5 Best Security Solutions for Online Banking

The first half of 2021 alone saw a whopping increase in ransomware attacks in the banking industry by 1318%. This was observed to be highly disproportionate to other industries. 

As fraudsters come up with new and unsuspecting ways to scam people during online banking transactions, it becomes important to safeguard yourself against crime at every stage. 

It becomes the responsibility of both the consumers and the institutions to stay vigilant against fraudulent attacks and instill proper safety measures to combat them.  

We’ve outlined some easy safety measures you can use to ensure a valuable online banking experience without worrying about cyber threats. Read on to learn more.

1. Take the help of residential proxies

Residential proxies are proxy networks that contain real IP addresses provided by our internet service provider. It attaches a physical location to your online presence, authenticating your profile or ID. 

There are many benefits of using a residential proxy for online banking:

• Instant protection

• Privacy 

• Ethical use 

• Access to protected features and locations

Using a residential proxy allows you to bypass security measures set up by web spaces and browse the internet with privacy and in a secure manner. Residential proxy providers integrate them into your system in no time and help you get started with secure online browsing right away.

Using a sound residential proxy provider also ensures that your use of the proxy is strictly ethical in nature and does not follow any fraudulent path. Use the proxy to authenticate your ID and perform online banking transactions securely.

You can also use the residential proxy to attach the IP address of a specific location to yourself and surf the banking portal as a person in that area. This helps you access features that may be available to specific regions and geographical locations.

Companies providing banking solutions, on the other hand, can use residential proxies to scrape relevant data that will help them improve their services without getting blocked. The proxies attach authentic IP addresses to their IDs to let them browse the internet securely and help their customers.

2. Look for banking solutions that offer process mining

Process mining refers to the systematic use of data science to analyze and improve workflows. A process mining platform can be a valuable tool for online banks seeking to optimize their operations as it helps:

• enhance customer experiences,

• streamlines operations,

• ensure compliance, and

• drive continuous improvement of digital banking solutions.

The goal of the platform is to help companies understand their processes better to optimize them with data-backed decisions. Using online banking solutions that use process mining helps the customer enhance their online banking experiences. 

By optimizing various processes, process mining platforms also help online banks improve their security protocols to help protect your valuable data.

It ensures a secure and smooth experience for you while providing you with valuable analysis of your banking patterns. It helps you identify areas of improvement. You’ll be able to analyze the risk associated with your banking choices to make better investment decisions.

Moreover, it helps you identify the potential of your investment decisions. You can strategize for long-term success and make the most of your banking experience with banks that offer process mining.

3. Choose secure banking solutions

The road to banking security begins with choosing banking institutions and solutions that are inherently safe. You need to pick providers that have a reputation for ensuring consumer safety and avoid the ones that don’t.

As depicted by the statistic above, the banking industry is seen as lucrative by fraudsters as its very basis is monetary exchange. Fraudsters wait for consumers and companies to slip up to sneak in and steal money as well as valuable information.

This is why most banking institutions are becoming highly vocal about their attempts to safeguard their consumers by instilling security measures. Eight out of 10 bank board members and executives say that they’ve specifically increased their tech budget in 2022 to invest in cybersecurity. 

Such public admissions and announcements inspire trust in consumers about the safety provided by the institution. They’re more likely to trust them with online banking. And these are the kinds of companies you should look for when choosing banking solutions.

There are two steps to the process:

1. Conduct research on your own before choosing a solution. This helps you gauge a general understanding of the current landscape and who other consumers trust.
   
   

2. Once you land on a specific provider or institution, reach out to them and ask them about the measures they take to ensure consumer safety. This would also help you align their measures with what you need out of their services.

4. Sign yourself up for banking alerts

Alerts inform you of every action that is performed in relation to your bank account in real time. They’re an extremely helpful way to stay updated about what goes on with your bank account at all times without missing any details.

Your provider will inform you about every transaction such as:

• Every monetary transaction performed — debit and credit.

• The mode through which a transaction is performed — credit card, debit card, UPI, bank transfer, etc.

• The new balance after every transaction.

• If your balance is low.

• If an external account is linked to your account.

• Password changes

• Failed log-in attempts

• Updates to personal information of the account.

Many people opt out of receiving these updates, thinking they’ll be vexing. Doing so will only delay the process of finding the culprit if you do get attacked at any point. 

Opting to receive alerts empowers you to report to the authorities as soon as something feels fishy to you. It reduces the reaction time of the authorities and increases the probability of catching the fraudsters.

Moreover, this keeps you updated about your own bank information at all times. You don’t need to seek your banking services provider every time you need to check something, you receive all the needed information in your inbox.

5. Choose strong passwords

Passwords act as a manual barrier to keeping your valuable information safe from fraudsters. They are targeted the most by criminals because they’re a manual security protocol set by a consumer and not the banking service provider. 

Consumers often commit common mistakes in setting and using passwords that fraudsters look to exploit, leaving your information and money exposed. Here are some of the common mistakes you should avoid:

• Setting a password that relates to you such as your birthday, name, or address.

• Using the same password for multiple accounts.

• Using passwords that will be easy to guess, such as 1234 or 123456.

• Not updating passwords.

Creating and updating passwords can be challenging. Over 75% of Americans say that they get frustrated trying to keep track of their passwords. But it’s an important step in protecting your online transactions.

More importantly, it’s a security measure you have complete control over. Make the most of it and set passwords that are strong and unique. Keep changing them from time and time and make sure to not share them with anyone, not even your friends and family.

If possible, write them down in physical notepads or notebooks where you write your other important information. Doing so ensures that you have them written in a physical space even if your digital presence gets compromised.

Here are a few tips to help you create passwords and keep them protected:

• Do not opt to save the password in your banking app or browser, always put it in fresh.

• Do not use the password promoter of your browser to create passwords. 

• Pick phrases instead of words as they’re easier to remember.

• Pick a combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, special characters, and numbers.

6. Opt for multifactor verification 

Also called two-factor verification (2FA), this feature adds a second security protocol to your bank account after your password. It’s an additional layer of protection that goes both ways and protects the user and the resource they’re trying to access.

It’s usually an optional step but one that can be beneficial in safeguarding your online banking transactions. Fraudsters will need to come up with two different sets of security authentication to bypass the firewall of the banking institution.

If you opt for the 2FA, it will only appear after you’ve logged into your account upon providing the password. Make sure to choose a security protocol that is different than a password to ensure maximum security. There are a few options you can choose from:

1. Knowledge factor  — This is information the user already knows, such as a personal identification number (PIN) or answer to a personal question.
   
   

2. Possession factor —This is something the user carries with them to authenticate the protocol. For example, their ID card or a token.
   
   

3. Biometric / Inherence factor — This relates to the user's physical attributes, such as their fingerprints or their eyes. These attributes are innately unique for every single human being and cannot be replicated, making them an excellent choice for verification.
   
   

4. Location factor — This factor makes use of data resources such as Internet Protocol (IP) address and Global Positioning System (GPS), derived from the user's device to register their geographical location at the moment and authenticate the process.
   
   Remember that this factor is highly restrictive as it uses the data of the moment and not something that may be universal such as PIN.
   
   

5. Time factor — This factor is another restrictive verification protocol that provides a specific time window to perform functions. Any activity after that time period has passed will not be allowed, making it challenging for fraudsters to execute elaborate schemes.

Be vigilant and pick the best security protocols to safeguard your online banking transactions

The banking and finance industries have been a hot target for cybercriminals due to the heavy monetary transactions that are performed in them. It’s important for you as a consumer to protect your online banking transactions to ensure secure transfers every time.

Use online solutions such as residential proxies to protect your online banking sessions by authenticating your ID and IP address.

Choose strong and unique passwords, and add another verification step to ensure top-notch protection. Sign up for alerts from your bank to stay updated about your account at all times.

Let us know in the comments what you think are the best security solutions for online banking. 

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