Internet safety in Europe

I would not use a public computer to check anything I really care about, whether in the US or abroad. There are too many keystroke-capture programs out there to assume any computer you come across is safe. In fact I have a hotmail account I've created just for travel. I can email family and friends from abroad, I emailed the account my itinerary in case it was lost. Someone hacks into that account, no big deal.

Janet,

I've never encountered any problems (so far) with keystroke loggers or other applications when checking E-mail, however I'm not comfortable doing banking on "shared" computers. I normally avoid this by pre-programming bill payments and transfers into the accounts that I access with ATM's.

If I do need to make a transfer or whatever, I just make a short call to the Call Centre at my financial institution during business hours (always travel with a Cell phone!) and have them take care of it.

If you're travelling with your own computer, it should be fairly secure, but I wouldn't recommend doing banking on computers in Net Cafes.

Happy travels!

The online banking system my credit union uses only allows me to check balances, activity, and transfer funds between checking and savings. So if someone did somehow get a hold of my password the worst they could do to me is transfer funds between my own accounts. Annoying but nothing to loose sleep over:) In my case I would have no hesitation using a public computer.

James writes:

"My bank website has a virtual keyboard."

Interesting. What bank is it, may I ask?

Just curious, because I have never seen this feature in the US. I have accounts with Citibank in Europe, and they use virtual keyboards, but none of my US account have his feature.

It does make logging in a little more difficult, but I guess it's a good security feature.

I would never use a shared computer to access my confidential information. Just too risky.

Keep track of your ATM withdrawals while on vacation if you are concern about your balance.

I pay bills online, but cautious when paying them during my recent trip here in the US when using WiFi. But did not access my bank accounts.