In this ultra modern era, each and everyone is using internet banking or mobile banking for different types of transactions. Whether it be railway ticket reservation, online movie ticket reservation, mobile e recharge, online shopping etc. most of the things are being done online. In such scenario, it is very necessary that we care for security of our internet banking accounts. You should know about various tips using which you could safeguard your account effectively. Below are 5 Killer Security Tips for Mobile and Internet Banking for your well functioning of Account
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1. Protect your Bank Account password
It is most important part of the internet banking. It is the key to save your account from hackers. It is one of your first lines of defence. If you somehow become weak here, your account would easily go in the hands of others which you don’t want. So, the first rule is to make a Very Strong Password for your account using alphanumeric as well as in combination with some special characters. Users must remember the password instead of writing elsewhere as there are chances of losing that piece of paper or hacking of mobile if it is written in SMS. It is better to choose a personal question as hint and select it privately which might not be known by others. Avoid using common things like Mobile number, home address as a password.
Changing password periodically is really a good practise which one must adopt. Again, make sure that you never ever reply to phishing emails with your personal username and password. It could be used to hack your account.
2. Be Careful While opening email
Email is the most common way to respond to our friends, families and colleagues. There is one tip here and that is never trying open a suspicious mail about which you don’t know clearly. It might not be a bad email but still try always to be on the safe side. Again, if any email asks you about your personal details no matter from which high authority it is sent to you, never discloses your identity as the personal details are never asked on mails. However, if you are doubting that your institution might have asked for your personal information, just call them at first and confirm it then and only then send your personal information to them. Email is not a reliable source of media as it may be used to send you a virus which could install itself on your computer if you open any link or some other things attached to it. So, there is no institution which would go for asking personal details by e mail. So, always try to open those emails of which you know about the subject. So, this is a good practice to open only those emails on which you can rely.
3. Enhancing Computer Security
No matter how much you try to safeguard your computer from viruses, it has variety of options to attack your computer. So, it is a good practise to have a good anti-virus installed to your computer system which could secure your personal details at a safe place. Again, also make sure to upgrade the anti-virus on a regular basis. Often, we search for various stuffs on the internet and there is a good chance of attacking of a virus to our files from the internet. Computer virus are of many types. Some of them destroy your whole information, data etc. present on your computer while some of them might steal the username and the passwords stored. It could then easily access your any account and remove all your money on your behalf.
4. Know about what you are going to download
There are situations where people open any website and start downloading media files instantly. This is a wrong habit as the downloaded file might contain some of the spy viruses or trojan viruses. While you were enjoying during watching or listening to the beautiful things you have downloaded, it will corrupt all the files present in your computer and will steal the username and passwords. Therefore, you must be selective about downloading any file. Again, you should also download file from a protected site.
5. Use of Strong Password in your mobile
Nowadays, we use our smartphones to access our internet banking. It is found sometimes that users put down their passwords in a notepad and put it on the desktop. They think it would be easier to access their account in an easy way. Yes indeed this is an easy way to access your account but not only you but your fellow friends too. Just imagine, what it would be when your friends get to know about your password. So, it is a good practice to remember your password or keep the passwords in a secured place with a password. Again, make your mobile password protected to safe your account from any unwilling hand.
The above mentioned steps are very important to safeguard your banking account from the malware or hackers. Below mentioned is some of the tips which you must follow to be on more safe side.
- Check Bank Account on a regular basis.
- Access you account from a secured place. Never uses others laptop or public computers to access to your internet banking account. There might be some virus or a fraud link which would get your username and password and show you that this page is currently busy. If you ever get this or other similar message when using others computer, just contact your Bank to know about any unusual activity. You might even block bank account for that day.
- Always check for encryption: There is a small lock icon whenever you access your bank account. Again your URL should also begin with “https.”. This is a good practice to look for these two things before opening your banking internet account on the net.
- Keep your system and the mobile lashed with up to date apps.
- Upgrade your operating system on a regular basis.
- Always make a practise of logging off from the account before leaving it especially follow this when using others laptop.
- When making a payment, always double check that you have entered the correct account number and sort code.
- Be aware of any unexpected or suspicious looking ‘pop-up’ windows that appear during your online banking session.
Most of the common principles which one should follow to protect his or her banking account are mentioned above. There are some other things too which are prescribed by your specific bank. Feel free to go there and ask them any extra feature which you must follow. They will guide you through that. Have a safe and secured Internet banking account.