What is your husband's name?: sociological dimensions of internet banking authentication

Abstract

First order authentication of the privacy and security of Internet banking rests mainly on distinctive user names and passwords. Our qualitative study of banking, security and privacy shows it is common for married and de facto couples in Australia to access each other's individual Internet and phone banking accounts through shared user names and PINs. This sharing happens when the couple has joint accounts, and both persons also have individual accounts, but only one person manages the money. Individual accounts appear to remain important for their symbolic meanings in a marriage, even though online money management may negate access and privacy boundaries between individual and joint accounts. This study thus finds that first order authentication policies go against social practice in some important domestic contexts. Our work points to the importance of sociological empirical user centred security study in order that security design can be built on social practice.