German banks liable for phishing (really: keylogging) attacks

[Stephan Neuhaus]

This article: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,563606,00.html  
(sorry, German only) describes a judgment made by a German district  
court which says that banks are liable for damages due to phishing  
attacks.  In the case in question, a customer was the victim of a  
keylogger even though he had the latest anti-virus software installed,  
and lost 4000 Euro. The court ruled that the bank was liable because  
the remittance in question had demonstrably not been made by the  
customer and therefore the bank had to take the risk.

Even though phishing and keylogging are not really related, this  
ruling is remarkable because courts had almost always ruled in favor  
of the banks in the past.  So it could set an important precedence.

Fun,

Stephan

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