Use A Linux Live CD/USB For Online Banking

After reporting on how thieves used Windows malware to steal sizable sums from small banks and businesses, a Washington Post reporter recommends a fairly air-tight solution for net banking: boot up Linux from a live CD or USB drive.

Brian Krebs notes that loading an OS like Ubuntu onto a USB drive or live CD isn’t just his unique solution — the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis centre, among others, recommends conducting online financial transactions and monitoring from a computer that’s otherwise locked out of standard web browsing and email. By booting into a non-installed, use-once-and-reboot system like Ubuntu, you avoid both a litany of Windows malware and leaving anything behind.

Krebs offers a guide to loading and booting Ubuntu, while we’ve previously suggested using Fedora’s Windows-based installer and the easy-peasy uNetBootin to create USB drives, which move a little faster than a live CD and can still be used for data storage.

Avoid Windows Malware: Bank on a Live CD [Security Fix/WashingtonPost.com via Slashdot]