The holiday season is around the corner and there are probably enough people not directly affected by the economic doldrums who will take advantage of some online shopping deals. The sorry state of online security generally may be putting off a significant number of those, so PayPal Canada has come up with a timely solution to give people confidence: a Security Key.
According to PayPal, "the Security Key generates a one-time six-digit security code every 30 seconds, providing PayPal users with an extra layer of security. Members use the temporary code along with their standard username and password to sign in to their accounts from anywhere in the world."
A mobile version delivering a unique six-digit security code via text message to a mobile device is also available.
Mind you, consumers ought not to consider the Security Key a panacea; phishing attacks by hackers sending emails asking people to "update their account information" have claimed some ID theft victims. As well, analysts have discovered vulnerabilities that would allow a hacker to redirect PayPal clients to a fake version of the trusted site (one flaw through Firefox was reported a little while back).
Still, PayPal's move is an excellent confidence-boosting measure for shoppers and business people at a time when confidence is at an all-time low.
The Paypal security token used to be a US only thing. It's great that they're now offering it to more customers.
Where the heck do I sign up for one though? Maybe there's something odd with my account but, as of right now, I don't see any option on their website to purchase the key.
https://www.paypal.ca/securitykey
Thanks! Sheesh, that looks pretty obvious doesn't it :-)
The hard part is getting to it through the website menus... you would have thought a new feature would have been publicized a bit better.
I eventually tracked it down as:
- Security Centre (on the top of the page, not on the tab headings)
- then Security Tools (at the bottom of the screen, in the 'online safety essentials' box)
- then it's the 2nd item in the list of tool
As I say, odd that a newly launched product isn't easier to reach. Maybe it's deliberately being kept slightly under wraps as it's still in beta.
But thanks for the direct link - gave me the incentive to go hunting, knowing that it was actually there!
creative recreatio
