IB Secure Device

Insurance or no insurance, the problem is very complex and I think it cannot be approached just by choosing a single "route".

First and most important, I think IB's customers should be much better educated about computer security.

In the past I opened a thread considering just this topic, however, that found not much response.

IB's customers being generally hard to attack makes hackers find different victims !

One of the most powerful & efficient tools in computer security is making use of virtualization.

Just by using VMWare or VirtualPC you can realize the "NSA principle": Remember the story (urban myth?): The NSA has 2 Phones and 2 computers on each desk. One for external and one for internal communication.
When both circuits are not connected, the internal circuit cannot be attacked - full stop.
 
Quote from FullyArticulate:

Already did, just flip back a few pages in the the thread. I made several posts about this on pages 8, 9, 13, and 14.
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Thanks FA. I still wonder though, after reading the links you provided, how a trojan gets into your PC in the first place. Hence my original questions. Would a spammer just send out trojans randomly into the internet nebula hoping that some will make contact and stick for his evil intent? What the possible ways of getting a trojan if your PC does not initiate action?

I don't know. I am no expert on internet security, and I set up safeguards available for self protection, and I will opt in with IB's program. But I'm afraid people will get a false sense of security with all the firewalls, AV software, etc, if their online behavior does change. That's why I thought that a good start at least is to use your trading PC for trading only, not anything else.
 
Opra, a typical 32-bit WinXP will be infiltrated just when you e.g. visit an evil website with Internet Explorer.

Worst case, this can even be yahoo.com when a "bad ad" is being hosted there.

You will notice NOTHING. No Popup, no crash and no extra process in your task manager.
 
I have to apologize. As a non native English speaker (being in Europe) reading trough my resent posts I realized some language errors. In spite of those errors I hope the meaning of what I wrote can be understood without any difficulty. Sorry again.
 
I am also getting weary of people on this thread who want to put in rules which would make it difficult for me to withdraw my money and /or make trades. perhaps IB should have a separate division for these people. whatever is done now or in the future needs to have opt out provisions.
 
Quote from local_crusher:

Opra, a typical 32-bit WinXP will be infiltrated just when you e.g. visit an evil website with Internet Explorer.

Worst case, this can even be yahoo.com when a "bad ad" is being hosted there.

You will notice NOTHING. No Popup, no crash and no extra process in your task manager.
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Well, as I said, I will not use it to visit yahoo or anywhere else for any purpose, except to go to my brokers' sites to download trading apps. What will be the likelihood that it will be infiltrated?

Of course, if my brokers sites are infected, then we are all f'cked.

Edit: I ask these questions not to argue, as I am no expert. Just to get information to make informed decisions for myself.
 
Quote from Opra:

That's why I thought that a good start at least is to use your trading PC for trading only, not anything else.
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exactly.my friend is a security expert did this a long time ago. this is the ideal solution. if you don't want to spend the money for a dedicated computer don't complain.
 
Quote from Opra:

Thanks FA. I still wonder though, after reading the links you provided, how a trojan gets into your PC in the first place. Hence my original questions. Would a spammer just send out trojans randomly into the internet nebula hoping that some will make contact and stick for his evil intent? What the possible ways of getting a trojan if your PC does not initiate action?

I don't know. I am no expert on internet security, and I set up safeguards available for self protection, and I will opt in with IB's program. But I'm afraid people will get a false sense of security with all the firewalls, AV software, etc, if their online behavior does change. That's why I thought that a good start at least is to use your trading PC for trading only, not anything else.
More...

I am looking into the VirtualPC right now, looks like it achieves the samething without designating a machine for only the TWS
 
Another layer of security can be provided by making it nearly impossible for a criminal to profitably trade my account. If I could opt-in to certain trading rules I could prohibit pump&dump from my account while allowing my normal trading to continue unaffected.

For example:
1. No orders for penny stocks (anything below some threshold I specify)
2. No orders for thinly-traded stocks
3. No more than X% of my capital in one security
4. No buys for stocks that are up more than X% (and no sells ... down Y%)

With appropriate thresholds, these rules would never impede my trading and would vastly raise the effort and time required to drain my account (and the criminal would have to put significant capital at risk in the process).

And to allow for my behavior to change, either:
1) Allow me to change these rules by logging into Account Management with the STP device; or,
2) For every order I place that doesn't meet the rules, require that I authenticate that order using the STP device.

It's a fact that a trojan can trade my account after I log in, even if I used the STP device, so a layer of security like this is not just helpful, but necessary.
 
Opra, sorry I cannot make any serious estimates regarding your security as there are _way_ too many unmentioned variables in this.

BTW, 'YOU' is the biggest variable in this game.
Google: PIBCAC
 
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