| There is no doubt about the fact that | | | | verify they actually sent the email. If they |
| identity theft is on the increase. More and | | | | cant confirm it, dont respond and certainly |
| more people are losing their identities and | | | | do not share any sensitive information. |
| money each year due to the efforts of a | | | | |
| select few individuals who know how to use | | | | Other techniques you can use to protect |
| the Internet to their advantage. Does that | | | | yourself while banking online is to use |
| mean; however, that you shouldnt use online | | | | passwords that are extremely secure. The |
| banking at all in order to avoid running the | | | | safest passwords should be at least six |
| risk? | | | | characters long and include both numbers and |
| | | | letters. Never duplicate passwords and try |
| By knowing how to protect yourself while | | | | not to use numbers and letters that would be |
| banking on the Internet you can reduce your | | | | easy to figure out, such as numbers from |
| risk of identity theft while still taking | | | | important dates like birthdays, |
| advantage of the numerous advantages and | | | | anniversaries, etc. or names of your |
| conveniences. | | | | children, pets, etc. Usernames should be |
| | | | likewise secure. |
| It is important to understand that financial | | | | |
| institutions take every available effort to | | | | Keystroke collector programs work to collect |
| keep the transactions of their customers safe | | | | important information such as passwords and |
| and secure. After all, they wouldnt be in | | | | usernames that can then be used by a criminal |
| business for very long if they didnt. Of | | | | to hack into your online bank account |
| course, it would seem that crooks and | | | | information. To protect yourself from this |
| criminals get more and more creative every | | | | threat, it is important to check your |
| year in order to circumvent those security | | | | computer on a regular basis to make sure you |
| efforts. Just a few of the techniques they | | | | do not have any spyware, such as a keystroke |
| use include keystroke collection and phishing | | | | collector, installed on your system. This |
| activities. | | | | type of program can be installed on your |
| | | | system without you even knowing it and many |
| Phishing involves the use of trick emails and | | | | people are often surprised to find out the |
| even some websites to collect personal | | | | amount of spyware that is on their system |
| information from individuals such as bank | | | | without their knowledge. Spyware can be |
| account numbers, credit card numbers, | | | | detected and removed with spyware blockers. |
| passwords, etc. With this information, | | | | |
| criminals can then steal your money. So, it | | | | Finally, dont forget to store all of your |
| is incredibly important to be sure that | | | | banking information in a very secure |
| whatever site you enter such information into | | | | location. Never keep the passwords and |
| or whoever you share such information with is | | | | usernames on your computer itself or even |
| secure and legitimate. In some cases phishing | | | | near it for that matter. If you forget your |
| emails can look quite legitimate, as if they | | | | own password or username its a lot easier to |
| are indeed coming from your bank. Before | | | | change it than to worry about losing your |
| responding such an email its a good idea to | | | | money to a computer hacker. |
| always contact your financial institution to | | | | |