Life-Saving Tips to Secure Your Online Banking Experience

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secure online banking

Looking for the best ways to secure your online transactions? Here are a few tips to get you started! Come look!

Remember those days when we made limitless trips to the nearest bank, taking out a whole hand of cash just to spend it on the nearest shopping mall? Or even making physical cash transactions to pay back many loans? Gone are the good old days. With that being said, the biggest process we’re practically living with day in and day out is done through online transactions.

Coming to the digital age, literally everyone and anyone is bound by their electronic devices. And, with that in light, online banking is the number one go-to at the moment! Whether you’re shopping online for the biggest deals and too lazy to give in the old school “cash on delivery”, or transferring funds to another account, it’s all done with more conventional methods using just your mobile or laptop.

Online banking may just be the next convenient strategy, but it is also conveniently unsafe. With so many hackers at bay, you’ll never know when the next attack might just be your online accounts. Almost everyone who’s prisoner to online banking, sometimes fail to understand the dangers of the process, especially if it’s not done carefully.

Even when using, sorry, especially when using a Wi-Fi, regardless of it being from the comforts of your own home, or a public Wifi, both are still a risk. Online banking, falls short in providing even the most basic security. With that said, did you know there are ways to walk around these issues, securing your device, your data and most importantly, your online banking experience. Read on!

Building a virtual fortress to secure your online banking process

With online shopping being one of the leading reasons for online banking, this automatically puts around 2 billion people around the world at great risk when opting for making online transactions most readily. All your banking needs are taken care of without even having to set foot inside an actual bank. Like literally! You’re just going to need to log into your accounts, make deposits, make transfers, using your phones and you’re good to go.

But only if things like this were actually safe, giving us the privilege to enjoy its perks. So, for your comfort, here are a few ways for you to secure your online banking dilemmas:

Strong passwords

Passwords are asked for a reason. It isn’t just some small way of making us feel extremely important or worthy of owning an account. There’s a reason why most online accounts ask for a strong password. So when you create an online banking account, make sure that you create a strong and solid password, making it memorable. A great tip to you would be not using names that are already included in your birth certificate. Details like that can be obtained from anywhere, and never use the typical “123”. Keep it short but keep it strong! If ever a hacker guesses your password, they can leave you with a dry account.

Password manager

If you’re not feeling too creative and can’t seem to come up with a suitable one, nor remember it; provided that you have a lot of accounts to manage, the best password manager will do you just the service that you need. It aids in storing your passwords like a little diary with locks, and also replaces old or weak links with newly generated ones.

Two-Factor authentication

Just one solid password is not all it takes to keep prying eyes away. Contact your bank provider and ask them to hook you up with a two-factor code. They’ll either provide you with a code on your mobile number each time you try to log into your account or receive a security token that displays a code for whenever you try to enter into your account.

A VPN

Sometimes major slips are caused by lack of security and well, using the public Wifi. I understand that the urge for free Wifi over dominates our better judgment, but, there’s a cure for that. Using a VPN will help you connect to any Wifi, public or personal, and works to secure your internet connection and encrypting your data. It helps provide you with top-notch security for online banking and additional perks that you can use for more than just that.

The option of a data plan

Another alternative to using a Wifi, even if it’s from your own connection, is to use a suitable data plan. For some, it may be a little expensive, but it’s safer and won’t really take all that long to get done with whatever online banking process you need to take care of. Using a data-plan is much safer as compared to Wifi services, especially for gaining access to your bank accounts online. This makes it very difficult for hackers to infiltrate your network traffic.

Erase all evidence

If ever the desperate need arises to use a public computer just in case your phone or laptop isn’t within reach or hasn’t been charged up, make sure once you’re done with all your online transactions, remove any traces of your personal activities or information. Start by clearing your browsing history, passwords, and accounts from the device and erase the cookies and cache from its settings. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s extremely important!

Make frequent visits

Even though you don’t need to make any only transactions, always make sure you log in into your bank accounts and check to see if everything is exactly how you last left it. Being paranoid and checking your account at least thrice or twice a week can help and make a lot of difference.

Use an anti-virus

Not all VPNs come with built-in anti-virus features, so, investing in a reliable anti-virus could help protect your device from malicious websites or sweep away mischievous links, which you can accidentally click on.

To conclude

It’s always better to be safe than sorry. It really is a life changer and makes online banking or any online transactions so much easier and fun to go through with the best precautions taken. So, protect your device, protect your information and guard your cash with these useful tip, that’ll surely make life easier in the long run.