Big Bank - Big Blunder (barclays.co.uk)

Member Name: shep

Product:	barclays.co.uk
Date:	07/08/00 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps getting better...

Disadvantages: Security problems... and you can't pay things IN over the net!

I've been using Barclays Internet Banking for some time, and it's been through a lot of incarnations.

When I started using the service, it wasn't very useful. Everytime you logged on, your browser had to download a pretty weighty JAVA application before you could get into your account. The application itself didn't have many functions - you could basically look at your account balance, or pay bills - and the user interface wasn't particularly simple to understand. To make matters worse, the java applet wasn't 100% compatible with microsoft internet explorer (it would lock up your browser when you tried to exit the application) - barclays admitted this was a problem, and suggested that users either used netscape or downloaded a new version of the microsoft virtual machine (which isn't a particularly simple concept for your average PC user to comprehend!)

Thankfully, things have improved. The service is now delivered through standard web pages, and there are a lot more functions available (transfers, overdrafts, loans etc). The web pages could still be improved (it uses a nasty 3-column frame design, with very small fonts and lots of graphic buttons which make it slow to load), but it does the job, and I've become pretty dependent on doing most of my banking through this medium.

Then, of course, came the news of the security problems last week. I've heard two different reports of this - one saying that when two people logged on at the same time, you sometimes saw the other person's account details, and the other report saying that a similar thing happened if two users shared the same post-code. Ironically, this happened when Barclays upgraded the sign-on software to "improve" security.

This really doesn't speak volumes for Barclays software QA procedures, after all, neither of these scenarios are particularly obscure situations, and even the most elementary software testing
methodologies should've identified these as important test cases - somebody in their software department deserves real bollocking over that one! (I know if a similar mistake was made at the software company I work for, heads would be rolling!!)

...But in a way, this could be a good thing - Barclays really can't afford another screw-up like that, so I imagine their testing procedures will be extremely strict in future. I certainly hope so, as I've really come to depend on the service!

Summary: