Keeping your money safe and secure involves actions taken by yourself and your financial institutions.
You should keep all account numbers and personal identification numbers (PINs) private. There is very little need – if any – to share this information with anyone or any other business outside of your bank. When using an automatic teller machince (ATM), make sure the machine is in a safe, well-lit area. If you lose your check book, ATM or debit card, immediately call your financial institution.
When banking on the Internet, keep your financial information protected by:
- Using a browser with secured socket layer (SSL) encryption technology and high encryption (128-bit).
- Maintaining updated anti-spyware and anti-virus software protection on your home computer.
- Installing a personal firewall on your computer.
- Refraining from conducting banking from public computers.
Also, do not reply to e-mails asking for personal information such as your online ID or password, bank account or credit card information or social security number. Although your bank may communicate with you through e-mail, it will never require you to submit personal information in the email. Rather the bank will direct you to a secure page on its web site and ask for your user name and password.
Your bank should have firewalls, routers, customer-controlled passwords and timing-out mechanisms as part of its web site security.