Throughout the world, we are living more and more of our lives online every day.
At the same time, we’re conducting much of our online activity on ourmobile devices.
Banking is certainly following this trend.
In the US,more than 70 percent of people do at least some of their banking online.
Is Mobile Banking Safe?
Of course, things that are popular arent always safe.
The shift toward online and mobile banking is driven mostly by its convenience.
Plenty of people just embrace the change without considering the trade-offs.
Many customers take the security of their finances for grantedwithout looking into it.
What are the Security Risks of Mobile Banking?
Obviously, in-person banking is the most secure option.
But the fear of hacking shouldnt make you give up on convenience.
If youknow the risks of online and mobile banking, youre halfway to protecting yourself.
Hackershave several methods of gaining access to your financial information.
Theymight trick you into installing malwareon your phone or computer.
They mightsend you fraudulent e-mailsasking for account details.
Or they mightbreak into your gadget directlyand start using those accounts.
Butdifferent devices have different vulnerabilities.
And different apps require different skill sets from potential hackers.
The short answer to this question is yes.
The longer answer is more complicated.
Thats the good news.
But these are rarely high-level vulnerabilities almost never in the case of iPhone apps.
So theressome cause for concern, but it’s possible for you to avoid problemsif youre cautious.
Part of thatcaution involves keeping your actual rig safe.
Unlike your desktop computer, your phone tends to go with you everywhere.
This means its much more likely to fall into the wrong hands.
This is a problem thats new to the smartphone era.
But its still not a reason to give up on the convenience of mobile banking.
Are Banking Apps Safe on Android?
We mentioned that iPhones avoid high-level security vulnerabilities.
But what if youre an Android user?
The risk is slightly higher for you.
But that doesnt mean your data is automatically prone to being leaked.
Incidences ofmoderate-to-high risk are rare for all mobile users.
Individual vulnerabilities are something to keep an eye on, but not a reason to panic.
You definitelydont need to switch phones if you already have an Android.
The main problem is that Android phones mayallow you to download apps from unauthorized sources.
But this is afeature you’re able to turn offin configs, under Security.
Top Five Tips for Safe Online Banking
Still not sure what those precautions are?
Weve created this list of five top recommendations.
These should protect you against almost all threats.
This is trueeven if youre on public wi-fi.
On their own, public networks are very insecure.
Buta top-rated VPN like ExpressVPNbrings the security of your home internet connection with you.
Theonly drawbackto this is that it might actually make your data too secure.
In other words, it might eliminate some of the convenience of online banking.
Most VPNs even prevent your bank from recognizing that youre trying to log into your own account.
This meansyoull have to go through extra steps to verify your identity.
ButExpressVPNis an exception, and thats why its ourtop recommendationfor a VPN to use with online and mobile banking.
It provides each user with adesignated proxy IP.
The first thing you gotta guard against is direct breaches of your equipment.
That means you shouldset a pin or use facial recognition to unlockyour home screen.
It also means you shouldlog out of apps and web pages, and tell them not to save passwords.
verify its not easy to guess, and never use a password youre already using on another site.
There are special tools to help yougenerate a strong password.
We dont expect you to develop a superhuman memory.
Some people say you shouldnt write down your passwords, but this isnt quite true.
You just need tokeep passwords secure and separate from the devicesyou use them on.
Also, avoid leaving any hints about its purpose.
Alternatively, you caninstall a password managerthat stores separate passwords for each site.
Then you just need to remember one super-strong password and let the manager log into everything else for you.
We recommend that you read it.
You might not understand every word, but you shouldget a sense of whether their practices are good enough.
One obvious thing to look for is thepadlock iconindicating that the website isproperly encrypted.
Another is the availability oftwo-factor authentication.
Sometimes this is optional, and itshould be turned onfor extra security.
It requires you to answer a security question or enter a one-time security code each time you sign on.
Things like this give some idea ofhow committed your bank isto security.
Its probably a sign ofhow secure their apps are, too.
If security doesnt seem to be a priority, it might be time to look for a new bank.
A bank thats not concerned about security is probably not concerned about customer service, either.
Should you receive a message of such nature, it is highly likely to be a phishing scheme.
Hackers often send official-looking e-mailsto trick people into giving out sensitive information.
They may even set up fake websites and convince you to tap on bad links.
Its easy to fall for this kind of fraud if you dont know what to look for.
Conclusion
The more you know about online security, the safer youll be.
That’s whywe recommend ExpressVPN- it’s the best way to keep yourself safe for online banking.
Our recommendations should help you to get started with secure mobile banking.
And as long as you stay alert, youll only become more comfortable with the convenience of mobile banking.
Further Reading
Your data is exposed to the websites you visit!
Visit ExpressVPN
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