Smartphones have made it easier than even to stay ultra-connected with every aspect of your life, including your finances. No longer is it necessary to keep your own hand-written records of debits and credits into your account when you can get that information with just the click of a button. However, this convenience sometimes comes at a price. Hackers everywhere are desperate to get people’s information, especially their banking information, in order to commit fraud of various kinds. So to help ensure your finances are safe, here are three ways to safely conduct financial tasks with your smartphone.
Keep Your Apps Updated
Despite what you may think, or hope, downloading your bank’s app to your phone isn’t a one-step process. As apps are used, things that may have slipped through the cracks in previous iterations are improved upon and fixed, including things that have to do with security. Once an update for the app is available, Laurie L. Dove, a contributor to HowStuffWorks.com, advises downloading the update as soon as possible in order to best protect yourself from vulnerabilities that have been found and fixed. Without doing this, your phone could be open for being hacked much easier than if you’d updated your banking app.
Take Security Questions Seriously
We all know that having a strong, unique password can be a great way to ensure the security of your online accounts. And if you are someone who actually does this, you may have had the experience of not remembering your username or password and then had to retrieve it through the use of security questions. With regards to this process, Kim Komando, a contributor to USA Today, recommends taking those security questions very seriously. If the questions and answers are going to be easy for someone to find by simply perusing your social media profiles, you might want to choose a harder question that only you truly know the answer to. This can help make it even harder for someone to break into your accounts.
Take Caution When Using Public Wi-Fi
While the idea of using public Wi-Fi is great, there are certain times when you’re going to want to just use your phone’s data plan in order to make sure your information is secure. Because public Wi-Fi can be easier for hackers to get access to, Esther Crain, a contributor to the Huffington Post, suggests never using public Wi-Fi to access things like your email, bank accounts, or when using your credit card numbers. By taking this measure, you’re lessening the chances of your sensitive information being captured by hackers.
If you’re worried about the safety and security of mobile banking, use the tips mentioned above to ensure you’re taking all the necessary precautions.