How To Secure And Protect Your Digital Banking Transactions

Digital banking is no doubt the future of banking and commercial banks will keep on developing various products around their digital banking platforms.



The Cashless Nigeria policy has implored bank customers to use their debit and credit cards for many of their banking transactions. Many are using payment wallets to avoid using their payment cards all the time. Most first-time users of digital banking platforms are not enlightened of what is secure and what is not. This makes them easy prey for hackers and people with malicious intent.

According to Norton’s Cyber Security Insights Report, 55 per cent of digital banking platform users born between 1980 and 2000 have been victims of cybercrime.
there are some tips that you can keep in mind if you are using one of the digital platforms for making your next cash transaction, according to www.livemint.com. If you are sceptical about mobile wallets and online transactions, you need to keep these tips in mind:

Be more cautious with public Wi-Fi networks
Easy and fast access to Internet through public Wi-Fi networks such as at airports, hotel receptions, restaurants and coffee shops attracts many users. Users need to keep a few things in mind before connecting to any public Wi-Fi network. One of them is to make sure you know the right SSID (service set identifier) name of the Wi-Fi network you are connecting to. Hackers often set up Wi-Fi networks with almost similar SSID names, making users believe that there are two such networks and they can connect to any of them. Any communication made using such dubious networks will be at risk of malicious activity. It is safer to avoid Wi-Fi networks that are not protected by a password.

Use VPN
Using a Virtual Private Network not just sidesteps geographical restrictions on online content, it can also add a layer of security to your online communications. It is widely used as a tool to secure web browsing sessions by enterprise as well as individual users. You can add a VPN on your smartphone or your Wi-Fi network at home. For a smartphone, you will have to download and install a VPN app. Most VPN apps charge a monthly subscription, while some are completely free to use. Deploying a VPN in wireless router will transmit all online communication through an encrypted tunnel created by the VPN.

Use OTP during transactions
During online transactions made using a credit or debit card, banks ask users to enter their 3D secure personal identification number or request for an OTP (one-time password). Using the latter will prompt the bank to send a six-digit number through a text message on the user’s registered mobile number. The six-digit number can also come via a bank token device. This is a unique number and is generated only for one transaction. Using a 3D secure PIN on a public Wi-Fi can be risky. Paying through an OTP is still a safer option.

Identify secure webpages
Most websites rely on certain security protocols such as HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) to protect users and keep their transactions secure. These websites can be identified with a green sticker and through the browser URL, where the link address will start with https instead of http or www.

Alternative to online transactions — Use USSD for transaction
Another way of bypassing the risk of online fraud during transactions is using USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) code for sending money directly to the other person’s bank account. The SSSD technology uses GSM networks for communication with the user and the bank and this makes it free from the risk of online hacking. Commercial banks have various codes you can dial on your phone to get this done.

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