Internet Banking Security Now More Enhanced

Guarantees against online fraud are what most consumers look for in internet banking services. As money is a major consideration here, they just want the best protection for their savings and investments. Regardless of whether they're banking in a brick and mortar institution that has gone online or an online-only bank, consumers demand security.

Banks are working hard to convince customers to try internet banking. Security features of internet banking services are now more advanced giving customers every reason to bank through the internet for added convenience and a lot more benefits. With the ever improving internet technology, anybody today can perform all sorts of financial transactions online in the comforts of their home or office. Apart from the security and convenience, internet banking is also cost effective with less or sometimes no fees at all.

Research experts say that while some consumers see no benefit in eliminating paper when doing transactions, going paperless is actually protection in itself. As an example, a bank's website can now allow you to view your bills and statements online in an instant instead of waiting for several weeks. This means that there's no chance that your credit card and telephone statements will be taken from your mailbox or your trash can.

The encryption technology is the most commonly used to secure websites. As data pass through shared systems or networks wherein a large number of people have access to the information, this tool plays a vital role. It is in this light then that confidential information notably passwords needs to be encrypted to prevent them from leaking to other people and from being changed. The use of a digital signature is another security technique that also involves encryption.

While encryption remains to be used, several large banks now use the latest web-based security system known as SiteKey. The tool uses a new kind of authentication process with the main goal of avoiding phishing, an online fraudulent activity. However, only a few are using this technique because of the system's weaknesses.

The use of usernames and passwords as well as personal identification numbers or PINs is among the standard security features provided by most banks. It is, therefore, highly recommended that the confidential information should not be shared with anyone to avoid the so-called identity theft.

Email alert is another safeguard that banks use. With this feature, customers are alerted via email or text message whenever suspicious transactions occur on their account such as withdrawal of large sums, when they get emails from phishers or when someone attempts to access an account with an incorrect password.

Many major banks also provide scanned images of canceled checks. The check's image not only shows the front side but the back side as well. This will help a customer in verifying the check number, amount and the payee in case he or she forgets the information.

Banks are committed to providing their clients with the best online security in an effort to protect their hard-earned money. It is not surprising then that internet banking customers are now growing in number.

Learn more about Internet Banking Security by visiting http://www.webinternetbanking.com/internetbankingsecurity.html

Protect Yourself From Cyber Criminals

Don't you like to protect your money and keep your private information safe? Are you frightened by the possibility an Internet criminal will steal your credit card and do things with your name after stealing your identity? Guess what! You can prevent this mess from happening. Let's go over the steps you can take to prevent identify theft and loss of your money while you are online.

Take precaution with storing information and passwords on any computer you use. You might be thinking, "I am the only one who uses my computer; therefore, I can store the password I use to log into my computer and any accounts I have with different websites." If you believe this and act accordingly, you could be in trouble. Someone might rob you of your laptop or break into your home and steal your computer. Furthermore, you will probably have to recycle or throw away your computer eventually.

Choose passwords wisely. Do not choose a password that has any part of your name or other information that identifies you. Choose an unusual password or a password you think others will have trouble guessing. If you open an online banking account or PayPal account, create a password that contains numbers and capital letters. Never reveal your passwords.

Be careful when reading E-mail messages from PayPal. The real PayPal site only addresses you by your name and it does not provide links for you to click or ask for your password. If you get a "PayPal" or "eBay" message saying you must verify your account to avoid suspension, ignore it. If you are ever tempted to respond, it is safer to copy and paste the link into your browser. If you ever believe an account of yours has been breached, immediately change your password and report the breach to the site holding your account.

Ignore E-mail messages in which you are asked to submit a form to claim a tax refund. The IRS does not actually contact people online unless they are returning a message.

Ignore messages from Microsoft and others that try to get your personal or financial information by claiming you have won the lottery or that you are a beneficiary of a huge sum of money. Also ignore messages in which each letter for the sender or subject line is capitalized.

Take precaution when sending messages online. A cyber criminal gained access to my debit card after I revealed my new debit card number on a web site's contact message form as a result of not being able to get their system to recognize my new debit card.

Handle your social security number with care. Do not provide it when you use a web site or submit a cover letter, resume or other form of communication online.

Be careful when making online purchases. Make sure the site has a padlock symbol that represents a secure purchase. An https site is highly encrypted to prevent others from seeing your credit card.

Use these tips to prevent identify theft and loss of your money!

Todd Hicks owns Skill Development Institute, an enterprise that provides a keyboard typing lesson and academic study guide. To become a great typist or student, visit Skill Development Institute.

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Dealing With Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

Distributed denial of service attacks are frustrating -- they're frustrating for the company under attack, and frustrating for the web host. They can also be costly in terms of business and goodwill lost. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with them, if you are willing to prepare for the possibility of a DDoS before it happens. You may not have seen them very much in the news recently, but distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) have not gone away. If anything, these attacks - or at least their potential - have become scarier over time as malicious hackers have worked on improving their methods. The increase in home-based broadband Internet connections, for example, means that hackers can now more easily infect a larger number of machines with fast, powerful connections to the Internet and make them do their bidding. Let's back up a second and define what we mean by a distributed denial of service attack. A DDoS attack is an attempt to disrupt the service of a computer network and/or company website by overwhelming the processing capacity of the system or by flooding the bandwidth of the business. It is a blatant attempt to consume the system's resources, to the point that genuine, legitimate users (i.e. website visitors) are denied access. Hackers engage in DDoS attacks via a two-step process. First, they infect computers with viruses and Trojans that allow them to control the machines remotely. They will then use these computers, known as "zombies," to overwhelm other systems. These zombie networks can become quite large. In October 2005, Dutch police arrested three people who'd created a zombie network comprising at least 100,000 computers. Some reports estimate the network was more like 1.5 million machines strong. The three who had created the network were using it to extort money from U.S. companies. It must have worked something like a high-tech version of the classic cliché of the mob protection racket: "Nice company website you have there. Be a shame if it crashed and all your customers couldn't get through." Since many commercial websites now rely on a constant Internet presence, this threat carries a real bite behind it. And with that many machines at a hacker's command, even a hardened company such as Microsoft is not immune to a DDoS attack. It's just the thing for the technology wizard with "different" morals who wants to make some money or a political statement. Dealing with the problems raised by DDoS attacks often requires lots of communication between the company being victimized and the ISP. If you're hosting a website that is under attack, that's you; if you're a web hosting reseller, you're still that company's line of communication to the folks who are handling the servers. Needless to say, it helps to know what you're up against.

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Which Internet Providers Are Watching You Surf the Internet?

It's one of the first rules of Internet 101: visiting questionable websites leads to viruses, which entices hackers to access your hard drive and monitor your every click. But can someone still be monitoring your web activity even if you're extra careful when selecting online destinations? The answer may just depend on which Internet provider you use.

A few months ago, The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent out an open letter to 33 companies inquiring about their online targeting practices, or in other words, the extent to which the web activity of their customers is being monitored.

The letter was sent amidst reports that several Internet service providers, including Charter Communications, were planning to sell the web-surfing data of their customers to an online advertising company called NebuAd. (Source: nytimes.com)

The responses to the letter showed that most ISPs, including Comcast, Verizon and AOL, never monitor the web activity of their customers. Some, however, do have targeting systems in place to monitor the online behavior of their customers when logged on to their own web sites.

AT&T was the only company to give "careful consideration" to monitoring the web activity of their customers on ALL web sites.

Although it seems like a dirty trick to pull on their customers, AT&T promise that their approach will not be so deceptive. The company is promoting an "opt-in" approach to web tracking, which will require customers to affirmatively agree to have their surfing monitored. (Source: arcane.org)

In the past, most companies favored an "opt-out" approach to web tracking, which required customers to decline being monitored. Those who failed to refuse monitoring were assumed to be compliant with the system.

Most people agree that the best thing AT&T can do in this situation is to leave the Internet experience to their customer's eyes only.

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