We are all surrounded by the internet. Hardly a day goes by, where you are not connected to the internet and if you are then you might be living on a different planet! WiFi is the most common form of accessing the internet as it provides a stable and fast internet connection. Anyone within the WiFi range can connect to it, of course, there are passwords and other types of security, but who says passwords can’t be hacked?? And risk increase when you are using WiFi for banking-related activities especially WiFi networks that are public. In this post, we will give you a glimpse on is it safe to bank using WiFi? Public or home WiFi network?
Not only that, but we will also give you some tips on how you can use any WiFi network but, in a more secure manner. Because let’s face it, we cannot stay away from WiFi and cannot hang out banking sessions on slow mobile data connections. However, there are some risks involved in using either home or public WiFi for banking purposes. So, without any further ado, let us get straight into the article itself:
Is it safe to bank using WiFi? Public or Home Wi-Fi network?
There will be times where your mobile network coverage is not good enough or not fast enough to perform important transactions. Ultimately you would require a fast WiFi connection to get through with the financial activity. But, taking into account some tips and tricks would not hurt you to avoid any dangerous attacks on your important information.
Below is the list of things that you can keep in mind while doing transactions or banking tasks using a public or home WiFi network:
Keep your device up to date
Probably the first thing that you can do is keeping your device up to date. If you are using an Android device then make sure that you are running on the latest OS or your security patch level is updated to the latest version provided by your OEM. This keeps your device secured from malicious malware or viruses that can hack into your account and grab all the information, even related to your banking.
Use your mobile carrier network
You can certainly avoid getting hacked as easily as you would on a public or home WiFi by using your mobile carrier network. If you have a data plan then it is advised that you use it for performing any banking-related activities. You can also make use of the mobile tethering option if you are not getting good coverage on your network.
Check for settings
By default in many PC and smartphones, the option to Connect Automatically is set to ON. This means that anytime your PC/laptop or Android device finds and open WiFi network it gets connected to it. Hackers can set up fake WiFi hotspots eyeing your data and you can easily fell prey to this. So, it is better to turn the Connect Automatically option to OFF and connect to a trusted network manually.
Use credit card
Debit cards are linked directly to your checking account which means that it gets hacked, then your entire savings could be lost. However, using a credit card gives you an extra buffer time to get things sorted in situations like this and also there is better customer support as well.
If your bank does not give you options to add an extra layer of security then you can use other methods like two-factor authentication to safeguard your banking account.
Monitor your account
It is also highly advisable that you keep changing the password of your banking account in order to keep your self away from prying eyes of hackers. Also keeping a regular look at the transactions can also help you keep track of any unwanted frauds or thefts that you might have been a victim of.
So, there you have it from my side in this post. Hope you guys liked this post and learned a few tips on how you can avoid getting hacked while using a public or home WiFi network. Let us know in the comments below if you also have any suggestions and tips to give out for our readers. Until the next post…Cheers!
