The vendor's co-founder Ted Egan admitted yesterday his company issued a press release based on a misreported article but didn't back down from his belief that banks have been downplaying online banking risks for years.

Egan said customers do need to work closely with banks to overcome fraud adding that users need to be included in the battle against cyber crime.

"It is a collaborative scenario," he added.

Further clarifying the confusion generated from the misleading reports, a spokesperson from the Westpac Banking Corp. confirmed there are "no plans whatsoever to mandate a minimum Internet security policy for customers."

Australian banks have been extremely vocal about end user responsibility when it comes to securing Internet banking sessions which has led to the creation of services available to users that are concerned about fraud.