Like any other systems, there is always an element of risk involved in Internet Banking/E-Transaction, hence the need to take precautions whether from the company/financial institution or the users’ sides.

From the Company/Financial Institution’s side

Some actions that can be taken to ensure security:

• Regular tests of the system to ensure its reliability
• Provision of Internet security arrangement to ensure a secure infrastructure
• Usage of a number of security technologies such as encryption, firewalls, automatic log-off and monitoring tools
• Installation of a system to detect and disable attacks from hackers
• Undertake a periodic review every X months to assess possible risks and detect possible weaknesses in the banking institution’s risk management system

No matter how secure the website is, as users of the system, we need to take all precautionary measures as anything happens might have disastrous financial impact on us.

Hence the need as Individual user to take the following precautions:

1. Do not reveal our Login ID and Password or PIN

• by keeping our Login ID and password or PIN confidential
• memorize it and do not write it down anywhere
• change our password or PIN regularly and avoid using easy-to-guess passwords such names or birthdays. Ideally the password should be a combination of characters ( uppercase and lowercase) and numbers
• check our transaction history details and statements regularly to make sure that there are no unauthorized transactions on our accounts or additions to the list of registered payees
• if we suspect any unauthorized use of our accounts or that someone else may know our password or PIN, we should change our password or PIN immediately and notify the company/banking institution.
• do not store our Login ID and Password or Pin on the computer

2. Check for the right and secure website

• Before doing any online transactions or sending personal information, make sure that we have the correct website
• We should also ensure that we are in a “secure” website by checking the Universal Resource Locators (URLs) to ensure that it begins with “https” and look for a display of a closed padlock symbol on the status bar of our browser
• Protect our personal computer/laptop from hackers, viruses and malicious programs
• Install a personal firewall and a reputable anti-virus program
• Ensure that the anti-virus program is up-to-date and runs at all times
• Always keep our operating system and web browser up-to-date with the latest security patches, in order to protect against weaknesses or vulnerabilities

3. Be careful when downloading software

• When we receive a program or attachment, we should always check it with an updated anti-virus program to ensure that it does not contain any virus that could attach our personal computer/laptop
• We should not download any file or software from sites or sources, which we are not familiar with or click on hyperlinks sent to us by strangers. Opening such a file could expose our system to a computer virus that could hijack our personal information including our password or PIN

4. We should not leave our computer/laptop unattended when logged in

• We should log off from the Internet Banking site when we leave our computer unattended, even if it is for a short while
• We should always remember to log-off

5. It is important that we log-off when we have completed our banking transactions

• We should clear the memory cache and transaction history after logging out from the website to remove our account information. This would avoid incidents of the store information being retried by unwanted parties

6. Other measures

• We should not send any personal information particularly our password or PIN via ordinary e-mail
• We should not have other browser windows open when we are banking online
• We should avoid using shared or public personal computer to conduct our Internet Banking/E-transactions
• The “ file and printer sharing” feature on our operating system should preferably be disable

(Source: Consumer Education programme by BNM)