One of the risks to small and medium businesses is losing your bank credentials to bad guys by use of a key logger or other malware as [Bruce Schneier blogs about](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/08/small_business.html). A particular threat is [real-time key loggers as described in the NY Times](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/how-hackers-snatch-real-time-security-id-numbers/). The bottom line is that with commercial bank login information, bad guys can wire money out of your accounts and there may be no recourse. Commercial bank account logins are truly the keys to the kingdom. 

I’ve decided to substantially increase the security on the machines where these bank credentials are used. My standard security recommendations are Windows XP SP3 with patches being applied automatically nightly. Virus protection is on (We generally use ESET). Users are Limited users; they can’t add software. Software restrictions prevent the user from accidently or deliberately downloading software and running it out of their user directory. We use IE8 because of the ease of managing it in a Active Directory environment, but I recognize this as a potential weakness. Unfortunately, the most likely vector of a zero day exploit is flash or acrobat, both of which we use.

Security is always a tradeoff of convenience versus safety, so answers and suggestions should give pros and cons. I’m going to answer with a few suggestions, so you can see where my thoughts are going.