Dangers of Online Banking

 

 

Third party hacker thieves have been known to send spyware programs to the computers of online banking users, and many of these programs are capable of recording the keystrokes of the hacked computer. These recorded keystrokes are sent back to the third party hacker, who can immediately acquire all of your personal information, such as your log-in addresses and passwords, bank account routing numbers and social security numbers. With this information, a hacker can very easily empty a bank account in seconds. The best ways to avoid having keystroke spyware sent to your computer is to install a firewall. Another good precautionary action which is much less involved is to change bank account passwords on a regular basis.

 

 

Third party hackers can also steal from your bank account by sending you official looking bank emails which ask you for sensitive account information. Frequently, these emails will have an urgent tone, suggesting that there has been a security breach in your online account, and that clarification of the matter will require your log-in address, password information and occasionally your social security number. Do not respond to these! If you receive this sort of email, always call your banking institution to notify them of the email you've received before giving out any sensitive account information.

 

 

Duplicate banking websites are exactly what they sound like: professional-looking websites which are an almost perfect replica of the banking websites you normally do business with. These official-looking sites will ask for your log-in address and password, both of which are then sent directly to the third party hacker for their use. Often, phishing emails will also contain links to one of these duplicate sites. If you feel you may have been misdirected to a fraudulent bank site, look for any slight variations in the website URL. Also look for an official padlock symbol, which should be in one of the corners of the actual bank homepage.