Net Banking is quite common and an important banking feature in current days. Using net banking you can surely save lots of time by doing all those transactions from your computer which generally you can do by visiting bank. You can transfer money, pay bills, do online shopping, check balance and many more using the same. So there are lots of benefits of it. But still many people think that net banking is not safe and can harm your money via hacking and other related stuffs. True, it is not 100% safe but for which thing you get such full assurance. Yes it can be risky if you not follow some basic safety majors but if you follow them properly and follow all those steps which are important for keeping your account safe then you can use it without any problem. I am using net banking facility since 7 years, I have done many transactions using it like online shopping, money transfer, etc. and so far I have never faced any problem related to security. So it is good facility if we know how to use it properly. Let’s talk about all those concerned things which should be keep in mind if you are also using the net banking or thinking about to use the net banking.
Tips for using Net Banking
Choose a strong password: First thing is to set the password for your net banking account. Make sure that you are using strong enough password which cannot be predicted by anyone, even by your family members. It should be known only to you and should not be not easy like your birth date or mobile number which can be guessed by anyone. So make sure that you are using a strong enough password like mixing numbers with letters. Keeping password with only letters or only number is counted as easy password, so don’t do that and choose strong password but choose it properly so that you can remember it later on. Lol.
Never type password publicly: Publicly means whenever you login to your account make sure that you are not typing your password in front of any unknown person or person on whom you don’t trust more. Net banking is an important thing so that you should understand about its importance, you can’t just type password in front of anyone, that unknown person can check out your password and that can be problem for you later on. So make sure that you are typing it privately so that no one can see it.
Change your password regularly: This is also an important thing. You should keep changing your password regularly. So that even if someone knows it or hacks it, by changing it regularly you can keep your account safe from such attacks. You should fix a certain time interval for changing your password like once in a month, it is a good habit to keep your account safe and to keep your password safe from others.
Use more Authentication features: These days social sites and email sites are providing more authentication processes than just a password. For example, before logging in to your account they provide you some kind of pin to your registered mobile number, so after entering that pin only you can open your account. Now even banking sites are providing such higher protection authentication process for your net banking account. If you are having such features on your banking site then it is more preferable to use it too than only single password.
Never login from unknown or public computer: This is most important thing when you are using net banking for your bank account. You should only use your net banking account on your personal computer. I have seen that many people use net banking on cyber cafe in a hurry when they are outside and not having their computer with them. But let me tell you this is a bad habit and can be dangerous for your net banking account. Any public computer may have installed some malicious software on it which can hack your password in it; same thing goes for any unknown computer. That’s why I am saying that better to be safe and only use it on our personal computer. No matter what, it is better to avoid unknown computers and public computers for Net banking. You should make it a practice.
Never share your details: You should never share your net banking details or account related details with anyone. Not only offline but also online. I mean to say you may get many phishing mails for asking your net banking details. For example some fake banking mails may come to you for asking your password and some other personal details. Never share password or any personal detail to such mails without confirming about it with your bank. Banks never ask such details on email. So be aware of this thing and never share your personal details with any unknown person and also on online.
Use paid antivirus and keep your computer virus free: It is important to keep your computer clean from any kind of virus and spyware. Virus and other malicious things can certainly affect net banking process and it may lead to hack your account. So it is better to use best and licensed antivirus if you are depend on net banking facility more. You can even use free antivirus but paid thing will serve you more and give you more security obviously. Other thing is always keep updated antivirus. These days new and new virus found by hackers, so better we update our antivirus regularly to stay safe from them.
Don’t forget to logout from your account: I have seen many people that don’t use to logout their different accounts like from social sites or email account. Let me tell you net banking is not like checking social sites and emails, it is very important thing in compare to them. You should always logout your account immediately after you complete your work on it. Without logout it may raise problems to you. So never forget to logout from your net banking account after you complete your work with it.
Open bank site by Bank site URL: Many people use search engine to open links and different sites. But better you not follow the same for net banking site. It is better you directly write your net banking site URL on browser and open it directly. You should also not use email links which redirects you to your net banking site. This may not sound more risky to you but sometime it can be very risky to you if you by chance redirected to wrong and fake site of your banking site. So be careful with it.
Stay alert from Phishing mails: I have already told you about it. You may get many phishing mails which will ask you about banking details and net banking password to complete some kind of tasks. Never fall for this thing. Even you get mail which is very similar to bank mail I will advise you to not to open any kind of link from mail. You can check things directly from your banking site by typing its URL directly into your browser. Some phishing mails may come with your bank name and it look exactly same as your banking mails, but never fall for it and give any kind of personal details. I already told you that mostly bank not ask any kind of personal details and passwords via mail.
Online shopping via net banking: If you are doing any kind of online shopping using your net banking account. Then better you go for genuine online shopping sites which are old and reliable. You should never use your net banking account with any new or unknown site which may lead to you with some kind of problem later on. They can hack your account with given details and then just disappear from the online world. So better you do all necessary investigation about the site with which you are using your net banking account.
Keep checking your account: Even if you are following all the safety majors you should check your account activity regularly. It is not necessary but it is a good habit. By this way you can make sure about all transactions done by you with your account. So you can also track any improper activity going on with your account by this way. So just decide regular interval of time for checking your account activity and keep doing it on regular base.
So this is it. I have mentioned about all the points which I came to know about with my experience so far with net banking. I am sure this will be helpful to those who want to start with the net banking feature and worried about security related to it. Just follow them properly and keep checking your net banking account activity on regular basis, I am sure you will be safe without any problem. So be safe and have fun.