Online banking in Canada isn’t affected by the Heartbleed Bug that has sent the operators of many supposedly-secure websites scrambling for a solution, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) says.
The CBA issued a statement today indicating that the Canadian banks’ online banking applications have not been affected by the bug, which has, for example, forced the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to temporarily cut off public access to its online services. “Banks have sophisticated security systems in place to protect customers’ personal and financial information, including encryption and other measures,” it says.
Systems that are affected by the bug use a form on encryption that is apparently vulnerable to possible intrusions and the loss of private information.
The banking industry trade group says that the banks “actively monitor their networks and continuously conduct routine maintenance to help ensure that online threats do not harm their servers or disrupt service to customers.”
Nevertheless, it also advises bank customers to continue taking steps to protect themselves from fraud, such as checking their bank and credit card statements for any unusual activity, protecting PINs and passwords, and changing PINs and passwords periodically.