Online banking made making transaction way easier than was the case previously. One had to personally go to the bank and fill in the details of the receiver. The whole process was quite painstaking as one had to stand in queues to acquire the forms and then submit them to the staff member at the desk.
Online banking introduced the feature to make and receive payments sitting right at your home. It made everything much simpler than before. However, it also introduced the threat of online frauds as people exploited the vulnerabilities in this trade to gain illegitimate access to customers’ accounts.
The recent fraud online transactions fiasco in the Philippines brought to light the various ways in which people can be targeted. Earlier, ATM cards used to be hijacked by people by tampering with the ATM machines or stealing the details of the customer’s account in a similar way.
People in the Philippines have suffered greatly due to this outbreak as their bank accounts have been wiped clean, leaving them helpless and shattered. Banks have been ordered by the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) to upgrade their online security methods in order to tackle this situation properly.
In the wake of such scams being brought to light, we give you some tips to do online banking safe and secure:
Use two Step Verification Account
Many banks in the Philippines, like the BDO and MetroBank, offer such accounts. This is a two-step authentication method to ensure that the person accessing the account is an authorized user.
When a user enters his or her customer ID and password, a one-time password is sent to his or her registered number to be entered in the bank’s website to authenticate his or her identity. This can prevent your account in case your customer ID and password have been compromised.
Use Latest Antivirus
Banks like BPI, MetroBank and BDO in the Philippines themselves use secure firewalls and antivirus software on their systems in order to protect their systems from being hijacked by attackers. Customers, too, should use these services in order to build a basic line of defence for their system to prevent disclosure of sensitive details like bank account information from their systems.
Strong Passwords
All banks urge their customers to use strong passwords, i.e. passwords of good length that include special characters as well. You password should preferably have both upper and lower case characters and should not be a common word. You should also change your passwords after some time.
Logout
Always remember to log out of your account after using a bank’s online service. Although most banks include the feature of logging out users from their account automatically if no activity is done for a fixed amount of time, one should always take care about this.
Use VPNs for Remote Access
In case you have to access your bank account from a remote location or from an untrusted network, use a VPN to encrypt your internet connection and prevent any onlookers from stealing your data.
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Conclusion
These are some of the ways you can make your online banking safe and secure. Banks are continuously updating their security methods to help users, but users too should take good care in the matter. We advise you find out about more of such methods to protect yourself from online theft.
