71% of bank customers regularly use online and mobile banking options. However, many people do not completely trust online sources and may worry about their information being stolen when choosing an online bank.
Are you looking for ways to protect information and improve your data security? Keep reading these tips for online banking safety to learn more!
Don’t Use Public Wifi or Computers
One of the most important online banking safety tips to keep your information secure is to only sign in on your personal network or device. When you use public wifi that many people have access to, you never know who will be able to see your browser history or password.
This is also true for public computers. If you were to accidentally save your password for your online banking institution, it would be easy for a complete stranger to access your bank from the same computer.
To avoid these potential disasters, it is always best to use your own devices and your own wifi network whenever you have to log into a password-protected website.
Scan Statements for Fraud
While you want to do everything you can to prevent fraud, it is also important that you are able to identify any fraud as soon as possible.
One way that you can do this is by regularly scanning your statements for fraudulent activity. Check your bank statement for any purchases that you do not remember making.
While banks do their part to identify fraud, some purchases may not stand out to them. By looking for fraud in your own account, you may be able to catch suspicious activity.
Use Anti-Virus Protection
Next, it is important that you protect your devices with anti-virus protection. This can keep you from getting attacked by any viruses or malware.
Most computers come equipped with some type of anti-virus software, but you want to be sure that you frequently update it for the best protection for your computer.
Understand Common Scam Techniques
Something else you can do to protect your online banking information is to recognize and understand common bank scam techniques. Scammers will frequently use the same tactics to gain access to your information, so understanding these will prevent them from targeting you.
One common scam technique is sending you links in an email. While the email may look legitimate, you may find that clicking on this link may lead you to a fake website that looks just like your financial app. Digital currency investors are a big target for this type of scam due to the increase in cryptocurrency prices. A famous example of this was when MyEtherWallet users were sent an email asking them to update their login credentials. In doing so, they gave cyber criminals access to their account where they stole all the assets.
To avoid this scam, it is always best to re-type the URL to your banking institution rather than clicking on a link.
Your bank will also never request your private information over the phone or over email. If anyone is asking you for information to gain access to your account, you should hang up and call your bank directly.
Regularly Update Passwords
Many people will re-use the same password for many different websites. However, if someone guesses your password for one website, they may try using the same password on another website.
This is why you should always make your banking password unique from other websites.
The easiest way to combat keep people from guessing your password is to update and change your passwords regularly. Typically, it is best to change your password once every few months.
Then, anyone who had access to your account will be kicked out with the new password.
You should also be thoughtful about the types of passwords you use. If you make them one word or if your password is something easy to guess, like your name, people will easily be able to gain access to your account.
To make your passwords more secure, you should make them a long password with multiple words, numbers, or special characters.
Sign Up For Text Alerts
If you want to make it easier to identify any fraudulent purchases, you can always ask for text alerts from your online bank.
Banks can send you emails or texts whenever there are large transactions made from your account or if your balance drops too much.
If you notice that you didn’t make a purchase or transfer money from your account, you can immediately call your bank to stay protected from fraudulent activities.
Carefully Choose Your Bank
Finally, it is important that you do plenty of research to find the best online bank. If you know that you can trust your bank, you know that they will do anything to protect your assets and information.
Make sure you check online reviews for banks and you understand your banking needs before you make a decision. You should also prioritize finding an institution with high security to prevent data leaks or hackers.
For example, things like multifactor authentication make it much more difficult for people to gain access to your account without your knowledge.
If you want to learn more about choosing a bank, check out this article on factors to consider when choosing a bank.
Improve Your Online Banking Safety Today
You can easily improve your online banking information when you focus on data security. By following each of these banking safety tips, you will not have to worry about fraud, scams, or any other data leaks.
However, the most important thing you can do to improve your online banking safety is to choose a reliable and trustworthy organization to work with.
Make sure you choose the best online bank so you can be confident in your banking!
Do you want to learn more about online banking and other safety tips? CFI.co can help! Check out our articles on finance and banking to learn more helpful tips.
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