My bank has switched from the old TAN numbers to an electronic TAN generator - which uses the recipient bank account number plus the seed to help generate the unique TAN number for each transaction.

That means, even if I get phished, they can't use the information to drain the account - they would need a good sample of TANs on a single account number and seed to work out the sequence on the device.

I've heard some of the banks are working on a TAN generator app for the iPhone.

The other year many UK banks gave out personal pin reader for some online transactions. Why can't they set up the site to use those for part of the login details? That way you need the card, the pin and the personal details.

I just need my pin number to log in.

The TAN generator is synced with my account and my bank card.

To make a transaction, I have to insert my bank card into the TAN (TransAction Numer) generator, give the seed number in and give the destination account number, the generator then provides the unique transaction number. The TAN is unique in time to my card, the provided seed AND the destination account.

If I enter the wrong account number - or a phishing site tried to substitute the account number on with their own - it would reject the whole transaction. The most they could do is look at my bank balance.

No way on this Earth am I going to install software supplied by my bank.

The PIN reader suggestion is a good idea though - although you can't perform any serious activities on my account without it anyway.