Please flame me if I'm too off-subject, but a recent experience led me to think that this might be of interest to people on the list. My company develops Internet banking software (pure Java - questions/discussion about how-to are welcome), and we use SSLeay with Apache as one element. We're about to launch a major development for a client for commercial Internet Banking. Until now, its been mostly individual banking. We just experienced a "run" on the bank where the company's major accounts are. While I was standing in line for 9 hours to get the money out, I got to thinking how much more volatile such situations could be as more and more banks go "digital". This particular run was caused by rumor, and has no real foundation. Nonetheless, it could bring the bank down as depositors (like myself) reason "The bank is solid (it really is), and this was all started by a rumor, so there's really no danger, but if everyone else thinks there is a danger, they'll withdraw their deposits, and there _will_ be a danger, so, just in case...I mean, I have nothing to lose by withdrawing, and everything to lose by not doing so, right?" So, we all go and stand in line in the wee hours of the morning and withdraw our deposits. If this run kills our bank, I figure it will take about 1 week, under the current circumstances (paper checks, ink signatures, etc.). Think about this same situation on the Internet, where the rumor propogation could be accelerated, and the action taken by the depositors could be almost instantaneous. With software like SSLeay, its real easy to do away with the paper trail, in fact, my customers' customers (ie: bank customers) are demanding these kinds of services. So, no more long lines, no hassle withdrawing the cash, just zip it over to another bank on-line, and sleep peacefully. It makes the capability of depositors to act quickly much more dangerous for the banks. One idea, of course, is to just shut down the server that provides these services, but that would we be similar to closing the tellers' windows, and would aggravate the situation more. When faced with this situation, the bank _must_ state publicly and loudly that all depositors are welcome to withdraw or transfer any funds they desire, and do so for as long as they can hold out. Shutting down the server is not an option. Keeping it up under _heavy_ load becomes of paramount importance. Any ideas? comments? We should probably take this discussion somewhere else - anyone know where? Thanks, Austin P.S. I got my money out on time, and no, this is not a bank that uses our software (yet) :^)
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