Tag Archives: bank
Safeguard Your Identity: Bank Online with a Sense of Security
With the eco-chic move to a paperless society, and the convenience factor of receiving bills and paying bills online, millions of people are banking online these days. When you see headlines such as “University of Florida Breach Exposes Nearly 100,000” or “Missing Arkansas Background Records Raise Concerns,” you start to wonder how safe online transactions really are. It seems that an advanced society like ours has a lock-down on our personal banking information. Our bank websites have the little lock icons that ensure encryption and security, right?
The security factor seems high until you realize that almost 10 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2008, which is over a 20 percent increase since 2007. With over 2 million personal data records breached since 2005, millions have been exposed to the ill effects that being a victim of identity theft can quickly have. And just like you use the Internet for convenience, thieves are conveniently using it to access your bank accounts, steal you identity, and steal your money
7 Steps to Being a Smart & Safe Online Banker
Take these seven steps when banking online for added security. While nothing is 100 percent effective in keeping the identity thieves at bay, there are ways to drastically reduce your chances of becoming a victim.
1. Create strong passwords. The entire preface of a password is to protect your information, but there are ways to create more effective passwords. First, use a combination of capital and lowercase letters. Second, create passwords that are at least eight characters long.
2. Use unique passwords. Most people have the habit of creating one or two passwords and then using those passwords for everything. The problem with this is that once a thief figures out your password, they can use it to gain access to one account after anothergaining more and more personal information on you, making you more and more vulnerable. Make sure that you use unique passwords for your banking information.
3. Sign off. Its easy to get distracted and walk away from your computer with your bank account still open online. Some banks automatically log you off if your activity goes dormant, but you can help keep your information safe and secure by logging off of your account when youre doneeach and every time.
4. Look for the safety lock. Always make sure you are working on a secure connection. Look for the little safety lock icon in your browser that indicates your connection is safe and secure (SSL).
5. Type the bank web address. Always make sure youre really on your banking site by typing the address into your browser rather than clicking on links from emails. Many thieves create phishing sites to look like your banks website, but its really a ruse to gain your logon and password information.
6. Dont save your passwords. Many websites and even programs on your computer give you the option of saving or “remembering” your passwords. Opt to type in your password instead. This keeps the wrong someone from gaining access to your accounts. Dont give them the information they need!
7. Dont go public. Never access your accounts from public computers or computers shared by someone else. This can expose private information and put it at the fingertips of thieves.
Banking online is quick, easy, and convenient. It allows you to take control of your personal finances with a few clicks of your mouse. It can also make you vulnerable to identity thieves, which can take a toll on your financesdraining your bank account and exposing your personal information. Practice safe and secure banking by following these seven steps. Itll keep the convenience of online banking in your life and the inconvenience of being a victim of identity theft out of your life.
About:
Identity Finder, LLC was founded in 2001 by innovative security experts. The company has quickly grown to become a leader in identity theft prevention by helping millions of consumers, small businesses, and enterprises in over fifty countries.
Identify Finder searches and secures personal information. Using proprietary AnyFind technology, Identity Finder intelligently locates social security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive data inside documents, spreadsheets, e-mails, web browsers, and other system areas. Beyond identification, our technology helps securely shred or encrypt information. Install Identity Finder today to stay steps ahead of the criminals.
To learn more or download a free edition, go to
Safeguard Your Identity: Bank Online with a Sense of Security
With the eco-chic move to a paperless society, and the convenience factor of receiving bills and paying bills online, millions of people are banking online these days. When you see headlines such as “University of Florida Breach Exposes Nearly 100,000” or “Missing Arkansas Background Records Raise Concerns,” you start to wonder how safe online transactions really are. It seems that an advanced society like ours has a lock-down on our personal banking information. Our bank websites have the little lock icons that ensure encryption and security, right?
The security factor seems high until you realize that almost 10 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2008, which is over a 20 percent increase since 2007. With over 2 million personal data records breached since 2005, millions have been exposed to the ill effects that being a victim of identity theft can quickly have. And just like you use the Internet for convenience, thieves are conveniently using it to access your bank accounts, steal you identity, and steal your money
7 Steps to Being a Smart & Safe Online Banker
Take these seven steps when banking online for added security. While nothing is 100 percent effective in keeping the identity thieves at bay, there are ways to drastically reduce your chances of becoming a victim.
1. Create strong passwords. The entire preface of a password is to protect your information, but there are ways to create more effective passwords. First, use a combination of capital and lowercase letters. Second, create passwords that are at least eight characters long.
2. Use unique passwords. Most people have the habit of creating one or two passwords and then using those passwords for everything. The problem with this is that once a thief figures out your password, they can use it to gain access to one account after anothergaining more and more personal information on you, making you more and more vulnerable. Make sure that you use unique passwords for your banking information.
3. Sign off. Its easy to get distracted and walk away from your computer with your bank account still open online. Some banks automatically log you off if your activity goes dormant, but you can help keep your information safe and secure by logging off of your account when youre doneeach and every time.
4. Look for the safety lock. Always make sure you are working on a secure connection. Look for the little safety lock icon in your browser that indicates your connection is safe and secure (SSL).
5. Type the bank web address. Always make sure youre really on your banking site by typing the address into your browser rather than clicking on links from emails. Many thieves create phishing sites to look like your banks website, but its really a ruse to gain your logon and password information.
6. Dont save your passwords. Many websites and even programs on your computer give you the option of saving or “remembering” your passwords. Opt to type in your password instead. This keeps the wrong someone from gaining access to your accounts. Dont give them the information they need!
7. Dont go public. Never access your accounts from public computers or computers shared by someone else. This can expose private information and put it at the fingertips of thieves.
Banking online is quick, easy, and convenient. It allows you to take control of your personal finances with a few clicks of your mouse. It can also make you vulnerable to identity thieves, which can take a toll on your financesdraining your bank account and exposing your personal information. Practice safe and secure banking by following these seven steps. Itll keep the convenience of online banking in your life and the inconvenience of being a victim of identity theft out of your life.
About:
Identity Finder, LLC was founded in 2001 by innovative security experts. The company has quickly grown to become a leader in identity theft prevention by helping millions of consumers, small businesses, and enterprises in over fifty countries.
Identify Finder searches and secures personal information. Using proprietary AnyFind technology, Identity Finder intelligently locates social security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive data inside documents, spreadsheets, e-mails, web browsers, and other system areas. Beyond identification, our technology helps securely shred or encrypt information. Install Identity Finder today to stay steps ahead of the criminals.
To learn more or download a free edition, go to
Managing the Phishing Threat to Your Organization
By now youre familiar with the basic phishing e-mail. You know the one — it comes from a bank you dont do business with asking you to verify personal information such as your name, Social Security Number and your existing bank account information. The e-mail may claim the bank it purports to represent has a check to deposit to your account, is trying to clear a check or something else along those lines. These phishing e-mails are easy to spot, their misspelled words obvious and the bogus links show up clearly. Theyre also fairly easy to fight.
Unfortunately, so many people are on to this kind of attempted identity theft that the phishers have turned to more sophisticated means. They use real bank logos and information theyve gleaned from elsewhere on the Internet to make it look like they know you, and they dont ask for personal information. Rather, they ask you to visit a website that will download a virus that will go through your computer and collect whatever information it can find.
But as phishing continues to evolve, detecting phishing e-mails is becoming more difficult. Worse, some phishing e-mails are really the visible part of an APT. They appear to be from someone you know, and they appear to ask for a response regarding something related to work, your finances or something else a friend may know. But spear phishing, as these highly personal phishing e-mails are called, depends on gaining your confidence by using material gleaned from social networks or other sources. When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was attacked, for example, the attackers went after the e-mail files. Most likely they were looking for e-mail addresses and information from the contents of the e-mails they found to use in a later spear phishing attack.
But these attacks may not be after personal finance information; rather, they may be after passwords to other companies systems, they may be after the names and e-mail addresses at other companies, or they may be after personal information they can use elsewhere.
The solution to most spear phishing attacks is first to use the best screening systems you can find. Some next-generation firewalls and most high-end security software can at least warn when they find a suspicious message. In addition, users must be trained never to answer requests for personal information of any kind. The bank is never going to e-mail anyone asking for account information. The IRS isnt going to e-mail anyone about taxes, and the security staff at another company isnt going to e-mail anyone about their access information.
Should such an e-mail hit your inbox, however, forward that e-mail to abuse@companyname.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and contact the sender directly to see if theres actually a need for the information. Whatever you do, dont reply to any e-mails asking for information. If you must supply information, originate the e-mail yourself.