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Is it safe to make use of online financial services? This is the doubt everyone concerns when they considers using online banking services. Nowadays, people tend to rely on internet to perform their daily tasks as it is convenient for us. When we make online payment or online purchase, we need to fill up our personal information such as names, date of birth, addresses, phone number, bank account, and credit card number in the online register forms. Phishing, information theft, and security hacking are potential threats that attacks our personal financial information. Therefore, it is important for us to protect the data from being damaged, misused, hacked and stolen by others.


The following tips will help us to become more aware of how to safeguard our personal and financial data.

1. Use strong password and change the password periodically.
We can use a strong password to protect access to our data. This can avoid unauthorized people attempting to view any private and confidential data. We should change the password frequently and never reveal any information, particularly passwords to anyone. Do not use passwords that are easy to guess, such as date of birth, username. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will offer you more security. It is important for us to remember our passwords, because once we forget them, we may loss our data.



2. Use and update anti-virus and anti-spyware software frequently.
We should install a proper antivirus and spyware to safeguard our data against viruses and Trojan horses, such as installing Kaspersky, Symantec, avast! Antivirus or AVG Antivirus. It is also important to make sure the software is up to date and are always connected to the Internet to ensure updates are downloaded as soon as it is released. Spyware is hidden in a software programs which may affect the performance of the computer. We should perform scanning on entire computer periodically to ensure no anti-virus and anti-spyware is hiding in our computer.



3. Do not save any personal and financial data in the computer.
If we save any important data in the computer such as credit card number and ATM pin number, there is a risk of having the data stolen when others are using the computer. If we really need to save any confidential data, consider saving it temporarily on the storage device and remove that data from the device when it is finished. It is important to ensure that data had been completely erased and not just deleted.




4. Avoid accessing personal information in public.
We should use our personal computer to access personal and financial information such as e-mail or online banking. If we use shared computer in public places such as cyber café, public library and computer lab, we may be exposed to the risk of having our personal and financial information leaked or stolen by other user. Therefore, it is advisable to always log out or delete history, cookies and internet cache once we are done.



5. Install and use firewall.
Be sure to have firewall application installed in your computer. It is used to monitor network traffic, allowing and denying communications of information based on the security policy defined by the application. It also provides security against unwanted attempts in breaking into a personal computer, stealing files or harmfully manipulating the computer system through the Internet.



Here are some links you can refer to if you want to get more information:
1.http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html - Safeguarding Your Data 2.http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets - Six Ways to Safeguard Your Online Assets
3.http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2006/09/23/safeguard-your-financial-life.aspx - Safeguard your financial life

By Lishi