Online bankings refers to the various transactional and non-transactional banking activities that may be conducted nowadays via the Internet, done within a secure online site maintained and operated by a bank. All one needs is a computer terminal with an Internet connection, or a personal electronic gadgets that have Internet connection, and banking becomes a breeze.
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Common online bankings (or services) include transactions like EBP (electronic bills payment), fund transfers (deposits and withdrawals), loans management (applications, payments and repayments), and investments activation (purchase of bank investment products). Non-transactional online bankings include balance inquiries, statement of account (SOA) generation, and customer service support (inquiries and follow-ups, e-mails, chats).
Doing online bankings is now a preferred mode of managing one’s bank account, compared to conventional banking procedures. Nowadays, online bankings are considered safe and secure activities. The Internet banking software that manages remote transactions on a real-time basis incorporates multiple back-end security systems and firewalls to ensure that all activities processed through Internet bankings are processed and reflected in the bank database as legitimate transactions.
Despite the development of modern security measures for online bankings, many bank account holders remain wary of the vulnerability that this system may leave their personal financial data. As such, banks have the responsibility to ensure the safety of clients. Banks should work together with Internet service providers and their security network professionals to guard against common “attacks” on online bankings that leave confidential client data vulnerable to exploitation and misuse.
Online bankings especially those done in public terminals, as well as telephone banking, are open to various form of attacks, including sniffing (capturing log-in passwords and IDs in public computer terminals), random dialing (bank telephone exchange or access number is tested for possible combinations to gain access to the central network and fish for data), brute force (capturing encrypted messages and using a code-breaking software to get data), and social engineering impersonators attempt to fool a bank’s help desk to get a change of password for an identified account).