In the last decade, online banking, sometimes known as Internet banking, has become increasingly widespread.
It’s a terrific method to handle your funds and a simple approach to ensure you maintain up-to-date payments. But how does it operate, and how safe is it?
What does online banking mean?
Dashboard account
Online banking enables a user to perform financial transactions on the Internet. Online banking is also known as web-banking or internet banking.
Online banking provides consumers with practically every traditionally local service, including deposits, transfers, and online payments. Virtually every bank offers internet banking, which is available in both desktop and mobile applications.
How safe is the online banking system?
Keep your account securely online.
Banks take many precautions to ensure that your online account is secure. These include encrypted web pages, delayed log-outs, and various mechanisms for authentication. You can ask for more details from your bank.
Online access to your bank account is usually safe is so long as you are sure that when you conduct a transaction, you input the relevant details and follow several rules:
- Check your statement frequently and report to your bank any suspicious activities.
- Don’t respond to emails claiming to be from your bank asking for personal information or passwords.
- Remember to always log out of your online banking session.
- Use safe wireless internet connections only to access your bank account.
- Public wireless Internet connections are often not secure, so it is crucial not to use them for banking or purchasing. If you have a mobile or tablet, your 3G or 4G connection is safer to use.
- Keep your anti-virus and operating system up to date.
- Carefully choose your password – combine it with three random words and do not reuse it for various accounts.
Safe Online Banking Tips
- Regularly change your password
Consumers may best protect themselves by changing their passwords every 90 days. Never use a word and always use the combined letters, numerals, and special characters in upper and lower case. Words are too easy to predict, especially if they relate to your righteousness like the name of your mother’s maiden, the street where you reside, or the name of your pet.
According to Kenyon that the longer the password, the better. Many federal entities need a minimum of 14 characters of passwords. Kenyon gives this tip to create a long, easy-to-remember password: Select a famous verse and add numbers and letters that you can recall easily. Make it difficult to crack your password by replacing letters with unusual characters.
- Do not use public computers or Wi-Fi during online banking.
You must anticipate that someone can access your browsing history and your password if you use public Wi-Fi. So, if you do something that requires you to log in, like banking or reading email, you risk, Kenyon, warns. It is valid even if you have your email or other password-protected sites configured to automatically insert and log in your password.
- Regularly check your bank statement
Every month, Kenyon says, check your bank statement. Although banks are highly qualified to recognize fraud, especially with credit cards, they may not always be able to collect all dubious transactions between every customer, so you should be sure to check your declaration every month.
- Use anti-virus licensed software
Kenyon adds that even Mac users must invest in robust anti-virus software. Be remember to visit periodically for changes. Set your computer to automatically check for updates and warn them, or arrange to check every Saturday or Sunday morning. But, warns Kenyon, don’t set up your computer to automatically download the update. The best security against malware and viruses is provided by manual downloading.
- Disconnect your Internet if you don’t use it
Computers that always have an internet connection are susceptible. Many users receive their internet via their cable company, and Wi-Fi is constantly available. Keep your Wi-Fi password-protected and, if you can, if you do not use it, it would be a good idea to disconnect your computer from the Wi-Fi.
- Each time you type your bank URL rather than using email links
Don’t ever click an email URL, even if it looks like it’s a trusted source, warns Kenyon. “The email and link can seem quite authentic, but you might not want to go someplace,” he explains. Always type the URL in your computer before using it or bookmark the genuine authenticated site of your bank, mainly if you use it for an online transaction or to disclose sensitive information.
