ONLINE BANKING - IS IT REALLY SAFE?

The
ease in which your daily activities are now accomplished is astonishing.
Between your calendar, clock, email, sports updates, weather updates, social
network updates, and, well you get the idea; you almost expect an easy solution
to banking on your cell phone after having all the creature comforts mentioned
above.

Mobile
banking and online banking have become such a dominant force that people
actually choose their bank based on the quality and availability of their
mobile banking features, according to the experts.

No
longer do we have to stand in long, slow lines to deposit a check or sign a
check and lick 10 envelopes every time your bills comes due. Now you’re only a
few clicks away from doing everything you need to do at the bank. Check your
balances, transfer money, pay bills, and even deposit checks all on your
smartphone.

It
begs the question, is it really safe?

Well, even with password security
measures and automatic log-outs after a certain amount of time on the
application or website, there are vulnerabilities according to CNN.

Malware,
the software that is an essential catalyst to online attacks, is hard to come
by with smartphones and it’s not a very popular avenue for hackers. Still, the
threat exists. Experts say that in the coming year it will most likely become
more popular as more and more people start to use the mobile options their
banks offer.

Some
“scanners” that have been in use for years, even before smartphone signals were
beaming your bank data over the airwaves, to steal your debit and credit card
information. These scanners have become more sophisticated and often steal the
information without the card owner even knowing what happened. In some extreme
cases, even draining accounts of the vulnerable and plunging them into deep
debt, only remedied by filing for personal bankruptcy or other drastic
measures.

Despite
these threats, there are ways in which you can protect yourself from any sort
of attack on your finances. First, password-protect your devices, say the
experts. Laptops, smartphones, and tablets should all have a passcode that only
the users know in order to make it that much harder for people to steal your
bank information if your device gets stolen or is compromised, according to the
experts.

Next,
web and text message banking is far more vulnerable to hacking threats than
applications that your bank offers. When available, use the app in order to
secure your accounts, say the experts. They also say to not save your user name
or password within the app or website in order to make it more difficult for
the potential thief to gain access.

Another
way to defend against hackers is to monitor your accounts frequently in order
to sport unusual behavior in your accounts. Many times thieves take small
amounts in order to not be detect and then go for a big purchase or withdrawal
when they know it’s safe. A good way to prevent this is to always know your
account activity and know when something doesn’t look right.