Your advice must be targeted at the smuck trading a $10,000 account in his pyjamas... And who would care much about his 10K anyway? For most sophisticated trading operations... Each trader will be running at least 3 networked PCs and 5-10 monitors... And at least 5-10 complex real-time quote, quant, chart programs that support his trading... Of which at least 2-3 of which MUST access the web... And ALL this must interact and run smoothly over a network in REAL-TIME. That's how a professional trader can do 200-300 trades/day easy. Basically... your advice to disable computers and run only TWS is crazy.
If this guy's story is accurate... The way IB handled this is comptempuous, scary... and "not in compliance". But it's not surprising. IB owe's me a dividend... And I will have to make 3-4 phone calls to the Institutional Desk where they will assume I'm retarded... Then more calls to other offices... Then any number of "trouble tickets"... The last one was ignored... and then "expired due to inactivity" (on IB's part). 80-90% of the time I have a Re-Org problem or a Buy-In... (Probably about 10 instances/year)... It becomes a long, drawn-out nightmare that costs IB a fortune in Customer Service time. IB is the very embodiment of the saying: "Penny wise and pound foolish"... Which is why they will always be 1% the size of Merrill Lynch.
You can setup your computer to run though network with the same security settings, at the sametime you can prevent access to your computer from outside sources. If you need more info I would suggest to do more research from some IT web pages. Here is the example, go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt -> type "netstat", check and see what is runing in and out from the net. You'll be amazed to see who is retreiving information from your computer.
I think you are incorrect in terms of wireless hacking: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33458 Furthermore, you cannot claim that mac "wireless" data cannot be snooped.
in that case hackers were able to show they could penetrate the wirless windows cards windows not os x. os x has never been infiltrated with success. if u use your mac with osx as your oprative system u can so far be safe. there is, as i said not one single precedent, where someone has been able to dismantle os x securities layers and take full control of a mac...this was a demo run not an actual event affectin' a private user and preventive steps surely have been taken by aapl to strenghten security.
No need to go through all that software jargon. Headache... Maybe a hardware key is the solution...i.e. you need a personalized/unique small usb device that confirms you are really the trading acct holder (like the good old days for AUTOCAD)
Again, I don't think you are right: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/securi...under_30_minutes/0,130061744,139241748,00.htm
Why don't IB provide a Dongle(hardware key) like eTrade? http://news.com.com/ETrade+adopts+additional+security+for+traders/2100-1029_3-5594914.html
IB does have this for account protection from unauthorized transfers or the changing of account information (I think they call it their STP program). However, it is not used when you actually log into your trading account.
yep, looks like u are right and i was wrong. but still, these are very isolate incidents and none involve a private user bein' attacked. as u said playin' into the hands of aapl is the fact that they are not that popular and hackers are after makin' as much damage as possible.