Safe Online Banking: Just How Secure Are Your Transaction This Holiday Season?
With the holidays upon us, it’s worth considering the extent to which online banking pervades our daily lives. Of course, it has been around for quite a while, and ten years ago many people appreciated the convenience of autopay for their credit cards or utility bills. However, now is a different story. Without online options, the season of giving would send us to the bank every day. Fortunately, the apps on our devices let us access our accounts for all sorts of payments, transfers, debits, and credits in an ongoing flood of small, instant transactions.
Undoubtedly, the explosion of online banking options has optimized our shopping habits — at least for convenience. No more visits to a branch for transfers, or an ATM for cash, and few people routinely write a physical check these days. Instead, just type in your banking info, and you can send or receive funds with a click or two. Online banking is so ubiquitous, it would be a challenge to find a financial institution that doesn’t offer a full suite of services for your convenience.
Unfortunately, the freedom to initiate any financial transaction independently comes with a risk. Now, the onus of responsibility is on us, and many people fail to keep their banking info secure. Luckily, there are ways to keep your banking information safe so it’s there the next time you’re looking for gifts to spread some holiday cheer.
People’s Bad Habits Make Their Online Banking Info a Vulnerable Target
Online banking has become the centerpiece of our financial lives. However, the fact that it is so common has, in some ways, lessened the urgency many people feel to protect their information. Most importantly, too many users are negligent toward their login credentials, leaving them in insecure places or not developing sufficiently robust passwords.
For example, old-school internet users are often still fond of a pen-and-paper approach to online security. They figure (with good reason) that an online attacker cannot access something stored on an analog medium. But, of course, not everyone is old-school.
As a result, many people default to using the electronic note or memo apps that come pre-installed on their electronic devices. Unfortunately, neither of these approaches is ideal. At the very least, managing, updating, and keeping track of many login credentials quickly become a gargantuan series of chores under this system.
So, it’s great that all modern web browsers come with their own password managers, right? Unfortunately, as convenient as they are, browser-based solutions can sometimes be flawed. They tend to have a primitive security infrastructure. This could leave your important financial login credentials exposed to sophisticated cyber-attacks.
At the risk of piling on too much negativity for this time of year, it is worth noting another problem that many people have: password strength. When it comes down to it, keeping your login credentials in a secure location is useless if a cyber-attacker (or their software) can guess them outright.
Nevertheless, people remain unaware of the two things that make passwords strong. First, they must be unique and random. Unique means that you use a different password for every set of credentials. And random implies that there is no pattern to the characters, making it much more difficult to guess or predict.
A Great Password Manager Offers Security and Convenience
The easiest way to address all the common security risks in most people’s online banking habits is to use a password manager like C2 Password. It secures all your credentials in a single encrypted virtual vault, where you will never misplace them. Furthermore, it uses end-to-end encryption, protecting your information much more than any pre-installed browser extension. In fact, the encryption system that C2 Password uses means that they are inaccessible by anyone but you, even on Synology’s own servers.
Organize passwords and credentials with ease
To help with organization, C2 Password offers dedicated categories for many different types of sensitive information, including bank accounts. You can use the system of categories and tags to save all the banking information you need to protect, including account numbers, PINs, IBANs, etc. In addition, you can use the another category named Payment Cards to save your credit card number, expiration date, and CVC.
Enjoy seamless online experience
Not only does C2 Password make your online banking info storage more secure, but it also makes online shopping much more convenient. The browser extension can retrieve your credentials instantly and auto-fill the appropriate fields on any website much more safely than any browser equivalent. As a result, C2 Password lets you finish your holiday shopping with peace of mind.
Generate strong passwords and auto-save
But what about the actual strength of your passwords? C2 Password can also address that perennial challenge. It generates random and unique passwords on demand, letting you update your online banking security as often as you like. Moreover, you can customize the password generator, adjusting the length and what type of characters you prefer. C2 Password keeps your financial assets safe using credentials that meet the most stringent security demands — and you don’t have to worry about losing track of them.
C2 Password Delivers Security for All Your Online Banking Needs
Banking details have always been a weak spot in people’s online security. However, in the current age, where almost all transactions are digital, the threat grows ever more acute. Not only do people need login credentials for a growing number of institutions and outlets, but they struggle with crafting unique and strong passwords, to say nothing of keeping track of them all.
Fortunately, a well-designed password manager with a full suite of security functions can keep your holiday spending safe and secure. C2 Password fits the bill, and then some. Its end-to-end encryption offers both security and convenience, while the mobile app and browser extension ensures you can instantly access your information on any device. Finally, if you have trouble coming up with a strong password, it can take care of that, too. C2 Password is the premier password manager on the market. Stay safe this holiday season with C2 Password and start for free today!
