The basic tips to protect online internet banking account.
The following resource provides you detailed information on how to protect your online banking account. In this article you will get to know about the six basic tips that are to be followed while accessing your online internet banking account.
Prior to the online internet banking facility, every individual had to take permission or even take a leave from office to deposit as well as for money withdrawal from their banking accounts. After the arrival of ATM machines the work of money withdrawal became a little bit easier as it could be done at our convenience and it was not time bound. The introduction of online banking facility provided us many more banking operations and that to on our computer systems like desktop and laptop. In this way, one can get almost all the facilities through their online banking account from printing statements to opening a term deposit account online. Though bankers protect the data entities like username, password and personal details through several techniques, it is the duty of the customer to protect their basic details like username and password.
Several innovations in this age of technology have made our daily tasks easy and quick as well. Few years back, banking used to take a lot of time and at times few days. But today it needs just a couple of minutes to transfer money from one account to another with the help of online internet banking facility. Because of this internet banking facility it has given us a lot of features like opening eTDA account, blocking lost ATM card, performing bank to bank money transfer transactions, paying utility bills, etc. Along with these privileges, it also has few security issues and those can be easily secured by following the tips mentioned below.Tip 1 – Never open your bank account through pop-up links, always type the URL in the browser :
Few people have the habit of visiting the pop-up links and this is not a good practice. Instead of this, try searching for the official web address of the banking websites. One can take help of Google search engine and find the appropriate official link from the search results. This practice might sometimes put you in trouble by directing you towards a phishing site. The phishing site (fraud site) will look similar to the banking website and you might lose your details to the fraudster by feeding your secret account information in that programmed website. Always type the URL in the web browser, if you don't know the exact web address then it is necessary to keep checking the address bar every time you login to ensure that you have landed on the right website. Remember, the original bank website's web address is never too lengthy and if it is lengthy then you have to recheck whether you have opened the right website or not. Tip 2 – Always check whether https with green indication is being displayed in your web browser :
When you type your internet banking URL, check whether your site begins with https as well as green color indication and it should look similar to the image shown below. In https the last alphabet, 's' stands for secured website. So following this basic tip you will never land onto the fake websites.
Tip 3 – Partially type and partially use virtual keyboard whenever you log onto your online banking account :
I am sure that this suggestion would be recommended by most of the bankers and I do follow this method whenever I had to login from internet café or shared computer. The basic reason behind this is that there are a lot of monitoring devices which can capture the secret information like personal details, username and password as well. You might be aware of the device called key stroke data logger which has the ability to capture and save every key that is being pressed by the user and it is shown in the image besides. This hardware device is connected between the keyboard wire and keyboard socket present on the CPU.
In this way, every key that is being pressed will get saved in this external device therefore you need to check whether the system you are going to use has this sort of attachment and if you find it then you should not enter your secret credentials on such systems. Another case is of the invisible software's which are not visible like the above mentioned hardware device. These invisible programs can save all the activity that is being displayed on the computer screen and the user is unaware of this fact that all their secret credentials are being recorded. Therefore, to get rid of such secret hardware and software gimmicks, one should use partly keyboard and partly on-screen virtual keyboard which is present on almost all the banking websites that offer internet banking. Tip 4 – Enable high security password :
Always enable high security password feature where it is necessary to enter a password for every transaction that you perform via online internet banking. In this way, if someone hacks your account you will get intimation by means of a text message on your mobile handset. Prior to that, it is important to submit your current mobile contact number to the banking officials at the time of application. Once the banking officials attach your bank account with your internet banking profile, you will get a notification for each transaction that is carried out through internet banking. Tip 5 – Change your password once in 60 days :
Now days some banks have made it mandatory to change your password at least once within 180 days. If you are using the internet banking from office and internet café frequently then it is better to change the password once in 60 days. Tip 6: Do not give your password to anyone :
Some people have the habit of giving their password to their friends and they ask them to do some transactions in case of emergency. This practice is being followed by the young generation and at times the secret banking credentials gets handled carelessly unknowingly. So if you have shared your password in case of emergency then you have to change your password as early as possible.
Follow the above mentioned basic tips for online internet banking account and remember it is very important to keep your password secure. Also it is important to note that the bank officials will never ever ask you your password via email, phone, by post or in person.
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