Online banking makes managing your money simple—access your account at any time from anywhere around the world without ever needing to visit a physical branch! However, it is crucial that you take steps to protect both your money and personal information from hackers. This means using strong passwords, avoiding public Wi-Fi networks, and regularly checking for suspicious activity.
1. Create a Strong Password
Strong passwords are essential when it comes to online banking; they protect against cyberattacks that could compromise your account and ruin it for good. For a strong password, use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Furthermore, it’s essential that each account use different passwords; otherwise, hackers could gain entry through one account and access others using that same password.
Many banks now provide biometric login, which makes securing your online banking account with fingerprint or facial recognition more difficult for hackers to gain access to any lost or stolen devices containing sensitive data. This feature could potentially complicate accessing information in the event of missing or stolen devices.
2. Use a Password Manager
Though online banking has become an efficient and popular method of managing bank accounts, consumers remain wary about its security. Luckily, banks provide several measures designed to keep consumers secure. Fraud monitoring, website encryption, and multifactor authentication are among the services provided to keep an eye on any suspicious activity on your account. Furthermore, text alerts can also be set up so you know when any such activities take place on it.
Some mobile apps even support biometric login, which uses unique physical features like fingerprints or faces to verify identity and prevent unauthorized access to customer accounts on lost or stolen devices.
3. Never Share Your Passwords
Online and mobile banking allow you to manage your finances any time and from any location with internet connectivity, but it is important to keep in mind that these digital tools could become targets of cyberattacks.
Password compromise makes it easy for attackers to gain entry to all your accounts that share the same login credentials, leading to financial loss and damage to your credit score. To protect yourself from this, never share your bank account passwords or credentials with anyone and only use trusted devices for online banking purposes. In addition, ensure your computer and phone receive regular security updates.
4. Avoid Public Wi-Fi
Online banking gives you the ability to manage your money safely and quickly no matter your location; however, it is still vulnerable to cybercrime. Public Wi-Fi networks are not secure environments, making using them for online banking risky, as it could expose your credentials and other sensitive data to criminals. Instead, use either your cellular data plan or virtual private network (VPN) when accessing your account from non-private devices.
Make sure that when browsing public Wi-Fi, your webpages are encrypted by looking for a padlock icon and an address beginning with “https.” This indicates that your connection is secure.
5. Change Your Password Regularly
As is commonly recommended, passwords should be updated frequently. But going a step further means physically writing them down in a secure location. By doing this, hackers will not gain access to your accounts if they steal or use password-hacking tools on any devices they find lying around, while providing added peace of mind when banking from public computers or mobile apps.
Unused passwords pose a considerable threat for hackers, who can use them for phishing scams, malware distribution, and more. Regularly changing your password prevents these risks while making it more difficult for thieves to break into your accounts.
6. Use Biometric Login
Online banking provides an efficient way of managing your finances from anywhere. You can pay bills, deposit checks, and check balances through your bank’s website or mobile app.
Some banks and credit unions provide online banking features like fraud monitoring, website encryption, multifactor authentication, and alert notifications that can help keep your information safe. Other safeguards include anti-virus protection, firewalls, and stringent user authentication protocols. Criminals attempt to gain entry to online banking accounts through phishing attacks or malware-ridden websites and apps, so in order to ward off these attempts, it is essential that only authorized banking websites and apps are used.
7. Don’t Click on Links in Emails
Online banking provides the convenience of 24/7 money management; however, it’s essential to keep security top of mind. Scammers are continually trying to gain access to your personal information and wallet. You can protect yourself by employing strong passwords and extra safeguards, such as biometric login.
Reduce your risk of identity theft by not clicking on links from unknown sources in emails and texts, and setting alerts so you’re informed if any suspicious activity takes place on your account. Lake City Bank Digital offers Experian IDnotify through My Toolkit as a solution to monitor and protect accounts.
8. Avoid Phishing Scams
Banking online offers an easy and effective way to manage finances, but it’s essential that you take precautions against cyberattacks such as phishing scams and malware attacks, which could put your accounts at risk.
Phishing is a type of cyberattack in which fraudsters use emails or websites to lure users into divulging personal data that can then be used to gain access to accounts or identities, and steal funds, or identity theft occurs. To prevent phishing scams, always ensure your links come from secure websites or app markets and do not click on suspicious emails or social media posts that request personal data.
9. Use Two-factor Authentication
Online banking offers an efficient and secure method of managing your money, offering 24-hour account balance check services from phones or tablets as well as deposit checks and payment of bills from anywhere worldwide.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds another layer of protection for your accounts by requiring an extra verification step: sending a unique code via SMS text messaging or authentication apps or authenticator apps or using something personal like fingerprint or retina scanners to generate codes that are sent directly to devices and authenticator apps or using something intrinsic like your fingerprint or retina scans as verification codes. While 2FA may not stop every cyberattack, it makes it much harder for hackers to gain entry. Check your bank website or mobile apps for availability of two-factor authentication 2FA options!
Sarah Whitman is a contributor at CapitalComLucro with a focus on financial security and responsible money planning. She writes educational content that helps readers understand savings, financial protection, and long-term financial stability using simple, reader-friendly explanations.