Technology has made it easier to manage your money. Right from banking and payments to trading and financial planning, there is hardly any monetary transaction you can’t do digitally. Unfortunately, this convenience also brings along the risk of cyber crimes, scams, and fraud, putting the safety of your money at risk. The good news is that you can protect your wealth by proactively adhering to the following cyber crime security tips:
Create Strong Passwords
This is such a basic but one of the easiest ways to safeguard your money. However, most people keep passwords that hackers can easily breach. Make sure your passwords are a unique combination of at least eight letters, upper case, lower case, symbols, and numbers. Avoid having passwords with sequential numbers and letters or your birthdate. Change the password every few months.
Keep Your Devices Secure
Upgrade the security hardware and software of your laptops, mobile phones, and other devices at frequent intervals. It is advisable to turn on automatic security updates on your devices. You should also install paid anti-virus, anti-spam, and spyware detection software.
Learn to Spot a Phishing Message
A phishing message is one of the most common reasons for swindles related to financial accounts. The cyber attacker sends you an email, text message, ads or sites that trick you into giving confidential information about your bank accounts, passwords, or unique identification numbers (PAN, Aadhaar, etc). There are a few ways to identify a phishing message. It is usually poorly written with grammatical and spelling errors. It also contains an urgent call to action or threat. The domain name from which you get the message also appears suspicious.
Beware of Vishing Attack
Cyber criminals can make unsolicited fake calls to you as a bank or government department representative. They will ask you to divulge personal information such as ATM pin, debit card/credit card number with CVV, net banking password, etc. Avoid answering calls from numbers you can’t identify. If you need to contact the bank or any other financial authority by phone, call them on the number provided on their official website or documents.
Use Secure Websites
Whenever you browse your financial information online, do digital transactions, or invest online, make sure that the web address starts with ‘https’ (not ‘http’). The web address should show a key or closed padlock in the status bar, indicating that it is a secure website. It is a good thing to invest smart, but you should also keep digital security in check.
Conclusion
It is important to keep cyber crimes at bay, especially when you trade or invest globally online. Ajmera x-change, one of the top financial services platforms in India, understands this. Hence, we help our online investors take complete safety measures. We protect each of our online investor accounts with a unique user ID and two-level password authentication. We also send timely reminders to update your mobile numbers or email IDs with us to prevent unauthorized transactions and receive financial information on your registered contact point.