UK bank login

topofmilk
topofmilk
Community Member

I have just purchased 1Password 5 for the Mac from the Apple Store UK. I have read the manual, forum, and knowledgebase but I am still unsure of what to do. I am inexperienced.

My UK bank asks me to login with my username on the first window, then proceeds to a second window which asks for the answer to a security question and on the same page asks me to fill in a PIN from a separate keypad gadget and then insert into my iMac some digits acquired from the gadget.I can then proceed to the details of my account.

My questions are
1. What is the best way of doing this using 1Password or should give up on this method?
2. If I try and fail can I trash the login item in 1Password without any difficulty or repercussions to my usual method of getting access to my account?

Comments

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member

    Forgive me answering your questions in reverse order: it's designed to give you confidence!

    If I try and fail can I trash the login item in 1Password without any difficulty or repercussions to my usual method of getting access to my account?

    Yes, certainly (unless somehow in the process of experimenting with the login you manage, because of your bank's security settings, to shut yourself out from your bank login). Anything you do in 1P won't directly affect your bank login until you use what you've done in 1P on your bank's site. I hope that's clear and answers your question.

    What is the best way of doing this using 1Password or should give up on this method?

    Don't give up: 1P can certainly help you—if only by getting you past the first page of the login.

    I suggest you start by looking at this knowledge base article on creating multi-page logins. However, note that's not going to help you automatically to log in:

    1. if the security question is different each time; and
    2. with the numbers you have to key in from the card reader device.

    My personal view is that I'd deal with the problem like this. Create a 1P login item that will log you in automatically on the first page. In that login item in 1P save your security questions and answers (either as notes or as custom fields). When you log in on the first page of the bank site you can bring up the login item in 1P mini on the second page (use the ⌥⌘\ shortcut) and anchor the relevant 1P login page to your desktop to help you copy and paste the answer to the relevant security question.

    Sorry this is all rather long-winded. It takes much longer to explain than to do. If you have more questions please do post.

    Stephen

  • topofmilk
    topofmilk
    Community Member

    Thanks very much. The security question is usually the same but for some reason it changed a few months ago. Originally I had to give the answers to 3 security questions. I will try as you suggest.

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    While we may not be able to help a lot with automating such a login @topofmilk you may find some reassurance by having the details stored in 1Password anyway. Banks are very tricky to work with due to how non-standard their login pages are and anything where the response required changes is difficult. What you can do though is store the security question and answers in custom fields and that way you could copy and paste them in. That's what I used to do with my Apple security questions until I enabled their 2FA.

    Let us know how you get along and if you have any other questions do please ask.

  • topofmilk
    topofmilk
    Community Member

    I received this from another UK bank when I asked about using 1Password:

    We do not recommend using any service which holds your details and the log in page for the ...bank. These usually store a page which will then not receive the updates we make, and this may give problems making transactions or viewing different parts of the site, It will also eventually deny you access when the older page is totally removed by ourselves.

    Have you any comments?

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member

    It seems to me that:

    1. either a bank has the ability to have a really secure login using decent user generated passwords (which should not, of course, be easy to discover, i.e., should be complex); or
    2. it has some home-made system that requires you to login using a fixed User ID, perhaps a code from a PIN reader and/or answers to security questions.

    Given that 1P can't do much about 2 (save for storing the User ID and security questions and answers—which are presumably not going to change) I can't make much sense of the bank's comment in that context. I've yet to discover a bank that allows 1 (they all seem to have their own system)—which is really the only case I can envisage where perhaps something might change on the login page so that your login won't work. However, I very much doubt that's going to deny you access because as soon as you see what's happening you will, of course, re-create and save the login manually. :)

    This seems to me to be a case of some bank person simply having little idea of the usefulness and significance of a sophisticated password app. Of course, that's just my view.

    Stephen

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    I'd just like to add a little to what @Stephen_C has posted. The response from the bank seems to indicate they don't really understand what a password manager is. We don't store any page from the bank (or indeed any site) at all, all we do is submit data to certain fields into the page the server sends to your browser. The worst that can happen is if a login page changes radically, the Login item may fail to log you in.

    Quite frankly that response from that bank is filled with a total lack on understanding in my personal opinion.

This discussion has been closed.