Quote from HoundDogOne:
Thank you for a detailed explanation...
Though your conclusions are obvious to any software engineer...
And, most certainly, to IB's engineers.
But everyone misses the point.
IB makes money by offloading endless services onto the Customer...
Who then bear the cost instead of IB.
That's how the managers at IB think...
What other costs can we transfer to the Customer?
The "security device" simply transfers most of the ** risk of online fraud ** to the Customer...
Because IB can easily make the False Claim that the "security device" is foolproof...
And the Customer MUST be at fault... MUST be negligence or inside job.
Try explaining the content of your post to a 70 year old Connecticut judge.
IB's approach also fails the laugh test.
People do not put 5 locks on their door...
They put one good lock... plus get insurance...
Because all security devices have major limitations.
Unlike E*Trade that simply says "Dont worry... you are insured"...
IB rejects insurance...
And then tries to force you to put "5 locks on your door".
The whole IB security situation is scary as hell.
It seems to me that no broker, IB or anyone else, would be responsible for security problems beyond their own system. Why would they? Maybe that's not your point. Maybe what you're trying to say is that even with this security device someone can hack into my account, due to a failure in IB's system. I don't believe that. But I'm open to an explanation of how that would take place. Do you have one?
OldTrader