Below are steps you can utilize to help protect your computers and your money from online criminals.
Monitor your bank accounts regularly. Leverage Online and Mobile Banking to monitor your bank accounts anytime in between statements.
Setup account notifications. Setup Online and Mobile Banking alerts and notifications.
Have computer security programs running and regularly updated to look for the latest threats. Install anti-virus software to protect against malware (malicious software) that can steal information such as account numbers and passwords and use a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to your computer.
Be smart about where and how you connect to the Internet for banking or other communications involving sensitive personal information. Public Wi-Fi networks and computers at places such as libraries or hotel business centers can be risky if they do not have up-to-date security software.
Get to know standard Internet safety features. For example, when banking or shopping online, look for a padlock symbol on a page (that means it is secure) and “https://” at the beginning of the Web address (signifying that the website is authentic and encrypts data during transmission). Lisle Savings Bank utilizes a .BANK domain. All banks with .BANK domains are verified and authenticated by fTLD, the .BANK administrator, prior to registering their .BANK domain, and re-verified annually thereafter. This ensures that everyone using a .BANK domain is an eligible organization. Hackers and bad actors cannot get a .BANK domain to create lookalike domains for phishing and spoofing, as they can in ‘.com’ and other publicly available Domains. All banks within the .BANK domain must also implement additional security requirements to help secure their sites and email, and protect them, their vendors, and their customers from phishing, spoofing, and other cyberattacks, and all banks using .BANK are monitored for compliance with these security requirements on an ongoing basis.
Ignore unsolicited emails asking you to open an attachment or click on a link if you are not sure who truly sent it and why. Cybercriminals are good at creating fake emails that look legitimate but can install malware. Your best bet is to either ignore unsolicited requests to open attachments or files or to independently verify that the supposed source actually sent the email to you by making contact using a published email address or telephone number. To verify email coming from Lisle Savings Bank is legitimate, email correspondence and system alert messages use the LSB.BANK extension for added protection. .BANK is a gated domain, like .gov or .edu, but for verified banks replacing .com, which can be purchased by anyone. .BANK quickly verifies the email is authentically from our bank, so you can interact with confidence when you see the ‘LSB.BANK’ at the end of our email address.
Be suspicious if someone contacts you unexpectedly online and asks for your personal information. A safe strategy is to ignore unsolicited requests for information, no matter how legitimate they appear, especially if they ask for information such as a Social Security number, bank account numbers and passwords.
Use the most secure process you can when logging into financial accounts.
Create “strong” passwords that are hard to guess, change them regularly, and try not to use the same passwords or PINs (personal identification numbers) for several accounts.
Be discreet when using social networking sites. Criminals comb those sites looking for information such as someone’s place of birth, mother’s maiden name or a pet’s name, in case those details can help them guess or reset passwords for online accounts.
Be careful when using smartphones and tablets. Do not leave your mobile device unattended and use a device password or other method to control access if it is stolen or lost.
Parents and caregivers should include children in their cybersecurity planning.
Talk with your child about being safe online, including the risks of sharing personal information with people they do not know, and make sure the devices they use to connect to the Internet have up-to-date security.
Small business owners should have policies and training for their employees on topics similar to those provided in this checklist for customers, plus other issues that are specific to the business. For example, consider requiring more information beyond a password to gain access to your business network, and additional safety measures, such as requiring confirmation calls with your financial institution before certain electronic transfers are authorized.
For additional information, we encourage you to visit the FDIC and their Consumer Assistance Topics on Cybersecurity