Online banking or e-banking makes our life much easier. Save us a lot of hassle and travelling time. Convenient and it’s 7 days a week. But, nothing is perfect. The scary part is the safety and security issues involved in online banking.
I read an interesting article on MSN and find it worth sharing the 9 smart tips which can protect us, the online banking users:
1. When logging on to a bank Web site, a user should look closely at the site’s URL to make sure it matches the bank’s name. A more secure URL will begin with “https://” and be followed by the bank name. Make sure the bank’s padlock is displayed in a corner of the site before you log on.
2. Log on to banks only from a secure computer. Never log on from a public computer in a hotel or cafe, and be careful when logging on to unknown networks with a laptop.
3. If you get a warning e-mail, call your bank — don’t click on any provided links.
4. If your computer is acting strangely — for instance, reacting slowly or getting pop-ups — avoid using it for online banking until you can get it checked out.
5. Keep anti-virus and anti-spyware software up to date.
6. Install and maintain a firewall.
7. Never respond to any e-mail that requests personal information.
8. Be leery of fly-by-night, Internet-only banks with high interest rates on savings or checking accounts. Make sure the bank is FDIC-certified and is insured.
9. And, most importantly, use a different user name and password for each financial account. The password should be complex, with numbers and symbols, and changed regularly.
Still, there are no guarantees.
You can read the complete article here. Happy reading!
Just a few days back I received an email from a well-known bank in our region to verify user’s online banking acc! The site was almost identical to the real one, very dangerous indeed. We could never be too careful and should always double check it for assurance.
Hi Ching Ya, did you reply to the email/click the links? Did you report to the customer service of that particular bank? Yes, it’s always better to double check.
Hey! So I Was Tagged – it’s interesting 🙂 For for ‘tagging’ me 🙂 will let you know once done mine 🙂 hmm… i’ve never been to kindergarten too ;p
Always looking for “https” before entering personal information is definitely a necessary security measure. Here are a few other good internet security tips…
-Use FireFox rather than Internet Explorer!
-Don’t access your bank when using public WIFI
-While using a public network consider using a VPN (virtual private network)… you can find good (and free) software on the internet for this added security.
Hi HSBCusa, Thank you for the additional tips on internet security. Right, must always ensure the site is secured with “https” 🙂