The development of digital financial services forces bank customers to comply with the rules of digital “financial hygiene”: a kind of financial security technique, mandatory, in particular, for every user of online banking and mobile banking. So, on the eve it become known that on the darknet was put up for sale access to the switch of the mobile operator – a device that allows fraudsters to intercept SMS messages from banks and other organizations.
But compliance with fairly simple rules will minimize risks and protect your bank account from the encroachments of hackers and cyber fraudsters. They were named for Rossiyskaya Gazeta by Anna Chaplygina, an expert at the Center for Financial Literacy of the FRI of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.
Rules for digital “financial hygiene”:
1. Install antivirus on your phone and computer.
2. Log in to your personal account on the bank’s website or the bank’s application on your smartphone only through secure Wi-Fi or mobile Internet of your mobile operator (open public Wi-Fi networks do not guarantee confidentiality).
3. Download mobile applications only in official stores (App Store and Google Play).
4. Set up two-factor authentication wherever possible (and you will control debits from the account due to confirmations in SMS).
5. Use secure folders on devices for personal information.
6. Do not open attachments in messages from unfamiliar recipients and do not provide personal information, codes and passwords in response letters.
7. Get a separate bank card only for online purchases and do not keep significant amounts on it (ideally, transfer exactly as much as is required for a particular purchase).
8. Connect SMS alerts from the bank about all card transactions (this is a paid service, but with a relatively low cost; in fact, a kind of insurance against a situation in which you may not find out about unauthorized debiting on time).
9. Use apps to identify incoming calls – and don’t answer suspicious and unfamiliar numbers.
10. Do not transfer payment data, passwords and codes from SMS confirmations to third parties; Don’t keep passwords in one place written down explicitly.
11. Do not publish your personal data (for example, phone number) in the public domain on social networks.
12. Use different passwords for different services and devices and update them regularly.