You Weren’t Wrong to Be Careful
If you learned years ago that you should never access your bank account from a phone or computer, you weren’t given bad advice. Technology was different. In fact, a 2013 TechNewsDaily article published by NBC News opened by saying,
“A few years ago, security experts thought you’d be crazy to access an online bank account from a mobile phone.”
The same article quickly followed with,
“The tide has turned.”
More than a decade has passed since then, and banking security has continued to improve. That doesn’t mean online banking has no risks. It means the advice we learned 20 years ago needs an update.
What’s Protecting Your Information Today?
When you use your bank’s real website or official app, several protections work behind the scenes. One of the most important is encryption. Encryption scrambles information as it travels between you and your bank so someone can’t simply read your password or account information as it moves across the internet. Banks may also use fingerprint or face recognition, verification codes, automatic logouts, fraud monitoring, and alerts when something unusual happens.
There are legal protections too.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires financial institutions to protect customers’ sensitive financial information, and federal security rules require covered financial institutions to maintain safeguards for customer information. Your bank isn’t simply putting your account information on the internet and hoping for the best.
Online Banking Has Some Big Advantages
There are actually security advantages to having access to your bank from your phone or computer. You can check your account every morning if you want. You can receive an alert when your card gets used, notice an unfamiliar purchase quickly, and many banks let you lock a lost card right from the app.
Federal Regulation E also provides important protections involving unauthorized electronic transfers, although the details depend on what happened and how quickly you report certain problems.
So don’t ignore a transaction you don’t recognize—contact your bank. Twenty years ago, you might not have noticed a questionable transaction until your statement arrived in the mail. Today, you might know about it within minutes.
Online Banking Still Has Risks
No online banking system is completely safe, and that’s important to understand. The 2013 NBC article quoted cybersecurity professional Clay Calvert saying,
“No online banking is completely safe, period.”
That remains a good way to think about it. Today, one of your biggest risks may not be someone breaking through your bank’s security at all—it may be someone convincing you to give them access.
- Be suspicious of texts or emails telling you to click a link because something is wrong with your account.
- Instead, open your bank’s app yourself or go directly to the website you already know.
- Use a strong password, turn on two-step verification, keep your devices updated, and don’t give anyone a verification code that was sent to you.
Your bank built a pretty good front door. Don’t hand a stranger the key.
You don’t have to go from never banking online to paying every bill from your phone tomorrow. Start small. Ask someone you trust to help you download your bank’s official app and turn on security alerts. Use it to check your balance and recent purchases. Learn what the buttons do. Get comfortable with it. There are pros and cons to banking online just as there are risks with checks, cash, ATMs, and credit cards. The goal isn’t to convince you that technology is perfectly safe. It’s to give you current information so you can decide what works for you. Pull up a chair. We’ll figure it out together.
Think of encryption like putting your banking information inside a locked box before sending it down the road.
Someone might see the box traveling by, but they can’t simply open it and read what’s inside. Your bank and your device have the digital tools needed to securely exchange that information.
Encryption is more complicated than a locked box, of course, but that’s the important part to remember: your information isn’t supposed to travel between you and your bank as ordinary readable text.
Before You Bank Online
Use your bank’s official app or type its known website address yourself. Turn on two-step verification and transaction alerts. Use a strong password that you don’t use for other accounts. Keep your phone and computer updated. Avoid doing your banking on public Wi-Fi, and never give an unexpected caller or texter your password or verification code.
If something doesn’t feel right, stop. You can always call your bank using the phone number printed on the back of your debit or credit card.
Sources
- U.S. News & World Report — How to Keep Your Information Safe When Online Banking
- Norton — Is Online Banking Safe? Yes, If You Follow These Best Practices
- NBC News / TechNewsDaily — Sue Marquette Poremba, September 3, 2013
- Federal Trade Commission — Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Electronic Fund Transfers FAQs
Leave a Reply