Cyber safety starts with personal vigilance

Consumers must be their own line of defense, banker says

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

Dealing with cyber safety and battling hackers are nothing new to the banking industry.

As Burlington Fox River State Bank’s Jeff Schmid explained recently, banks have numerous safety procedures and programs in place to protect customer safety.

However, as hacking into large stores’ confidential electronic information seems to happen more often, Schmid said there are changes coming down the pipeline to improve security. In the meantime, however, there are steps small businesses and consumers can take to protect themselves.

That is especially true this time of year when holiday shopping has most people pulling credit cards out of their wallets on a regular basis.

By the fall of 2015, Schmid said, credit and debit cards will be required to have “pin and chip” technology – meaning that two different scans of the card will be required or a business will be 100 percent liable for losses.

Currently, banks bear the brunt of recent large-scale hacks – such as Target and Home Depot – by covering the losses of their customers as the result of credit and debit card fraud.

But with that new technology will also come a price for businesses – paying for new credit card readers. Schmid expects smaller businesses may end up limiting what kind of payments they accept.

“Who pays for fraud? It’s all the small businesses across the United States,” he said.

Schmid also points out most hackers go after the big chains and not smaller businesses because of how credit and debit cards are used.

Some tips from Schmid on how to stay safe shopping:

• If you’re using wireless Internet, make sure passwords are strong – containing at least one uppercase and one lowercase letter, and a number.

• Keep security programs up to date with regular checks for patches and updates.

• Check accounts for suspicious activity. If possible, sign up for electronic statements and make use of Internet banking to monitor accounts.

• Always use a debit card as a credit card. A signature is a stronger safeguard than a pin number.

• Use a bank-issued credit card sleeve to prevent smartphone scanning and scamming.

• Every consumer can get a free credit report each year. Use it to confirm not only a credit score, but to look for unauthorized accounts in your name.

• Scan a computer frequently for malware/spyware.

• Keep in mind that financial institutions will never ask for personal information online.

• If you do Internet banking on your smartphone, don’t use wifi – use the cell phone’s communication network.

• Look for multi-factor identifications (ones with more than one step) and always check to see that Internet addresses that require personal information have the prefix “https,” indicating a secure connection.

• Carefully examine the website before you start entering data. Look for anomalies like misspellings or unprofessional language that would indicate a scam site.

Schmid also said that, if an ID or information is stolen, to call your financial institution immediately. A bank or credit union can lock down an account within minutes. Then call the insurance company and local law enforcement.