Barclays Customers Get Free AV Services

Barclays Customers Get Free AV Services

End users are the primary weak points in online banking security. A study released last year by Javelin Strategy & Research found up to 74 percent of identity fraud occurs from information under the consumer’s control. So it makes sense to empower customers, much like the way Barclays in the UK has done for its Web users.

Barclays announced it’s now offering free Kaspersky anti-virus software to 2 million Internet banking customers, saving them the annual cost of a subscription to the software suite.  It also comes with tools to fight spyware and adware, a firewall and spam filters. All of the software can be downloaded from the bank, which had previously provided AV-only offerings from F-Secure.

This online banking security tag-team seems a natural partnership, but one that isn’t all that common. Bank of America has a discounted (but not free) Norton Internet Security anti-virus offering to customers through Symantec, and Scottrade provides free software and a year’s worth of updates of McAfee AV protection. By and large, banks haven’t been keen on taking on the job of software support for customers, and have preferred protections that provide multi-authentication and site verification options.

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