How safe are you while making transactions on the Internet?

Banking and shopping online have become a reality of our lives now, especially during this time of the pandemic. We all have to agree to the fact that it has made life very convenient. It saves time and effort. However, there have concerns about the safety of online banking.

You could be following all precautions like using strong passwords and ensuring you shop only on well-known, authentic retailers, but it’s not always enough. Everyone is susceptible to data breaches – only a month back, there were reports of India’s BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app, used for digital payments, being attacked.

Dangers of online banking

Online banking is a reality of this day and age. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has also added to this trend to the extent where cash payments are actively being discouraged by authorities due to safety and hygiene considerations. Hence, even fully physical vendors have made the shift online – a trend likely to exacerbate.

The bank is another financial institution that is increasingly migrating its services online. In the near future, a day may well arrive that the physical bank branch will become nonexistent and all banking features will be available on the digital medium.

Keeping this reality in mind, it is clear that more and more people will be using the Internet to transact online. Hence, it becomes increasingly important that these transactions are conducted in a safe environment with a minimal chance of fraud.

Some of the major threats to digital transactions include:

Phishing Attacks – Hackers try to trick unsuspecting users of their financial data through phishing attempts. Commonly, users are presented with an email or taken to a website that looks extremely similar to an official, authentic payment institution. Many users may feel they are on the correct website and give their details, only to realize later that they have been hacked.

Identity Theft – These are attempts to steal identities of users using stolen data. This data is then used for illegal and unauthorized activities.

Keyloggers – By clicking on malicious links or trying to download pirated software, users open themselves up to the risk of keyloggers being installed on their systems. Keyloggers record everything typed on the keyboard and send this data back to their controllers.

Quick Heal Total Security’s Safe Banking mode

To combat such threats and to provide a safe environment, Quick Heal Total Security offers a Safe Banking feature designed to protect financial data during online banking and shopping.

Safe Banking shields users from potentially unsafe situations by launching the entire banking session in a secure environment that protects vital data. This feature helps in the following ways:

• The browser is launched in a secure environment to prevent zero-day malware from infecting the computer
• Banking activity remains isolated from any threat
• Any keystroke recording software that has been installed is blocked so that keylogging cannot be done
• Secure DNS is deployed preventing hacking attacks

The secure environment ensures that you only visit safe and verified websites, protecting you from the threat of phishing.

Safe Banking mode can also be easily launched from the desktop. For more details and step-by-step instructions on configuring and launching Safe Banking mode, please click here.