^

maybe barney knows what you're on about there Ren, but I sure dont

No worries...
@barney, nothing wrong with looking for loopholes, but I get the impression you're looking for loopholes *because* you are against bitcoin (or the concept) for some reason? It is true what you say
"Anything online is vulnerable to a sufficiently skilled person".
I only recently started using online banking, and I'm not particularly impressed with the bank's online security. It's up to me now, whether I continue with it. I'll probably let it drift, but if I ever got caught out (there is a Visa debit card associated with the account) I could really be kicking myself. I've heard that if a debit card get's ripped off, you have to pay it yourself, but I dont know -again, it's up to me to research that - but you know the way: it's on my list... This is making me rethink the whole thing lol.
So yeah, if you want to buy Bitcoin, you'd surely want to research first. And make an informed decision. And as you say, if you think it's not safe, dont buy in. I guess due to Bitcoins nature - if they can steal it, IIUC, it's gone - due to that, one would like to be extra sure about it. Online banking might not be quite so unsafe (?), but FWIW, mine aint inspiring me ;-)