“hackers apparently gained access to…account and routing numbers and were able to transfer the money out of the account”
James, it’s not just internet banking. Account numbers and routing numbers are printed on the bottom of checks. I think paying a bill online using good security practices is safer than putting a check in the mail.
But since we are on the subject of internet banking… I urge everyone to learn about the potential weak points in your personal security practices.
Is your home router secured and password protected rather than set to ‘open’? You can log into the actual router to change settings etc– has that password been updated? Many routers ship with default logins of ‘admin’ / ‘password’.
Do you link your online accounts to a free email account? In other words, if someone clicks a ‘forgot password’ link on your bank website will a password reset link be sent to a yahoo, gmail or other free webmail account? This is generally not seen to be a good practice, but if you must then do consider how strong your webmail account password is, how often it’s changed, and how strong the securty questions/password reset security is.
How good are your passwords? Hackers are getting better and better at writing password guessing algorithms, and the massive data breaches of the past 24 months have added hundreds of thousands of real world email addresses and passwords to the database– so the programs now have that much more data to analyze and potential passwords to guess. Passwords should be at minimum eight characters, and they should not contain dictionary words. Ideally you will want a 8-16 character string of random letters & numbers. For example, if you take the first letter of each word of this article, you’d get a password of hsnciaf. Add a number somewhere, and you’ve got a decent password that a computer won’t easily be able to guess– hsn12ciasf. Add some flair and it is even stronger– Hsn12Cia$f
How secure is your browser? Do you use up to date antivirus and firewall software? Is your browser up to date? Is your operating system updated w/ all security fixes? Advanced users might consider browser add-ons such as NoScript and Ghostery. These add-ons prevent scripts from running without authorization (noscript) and prevent websites from tracking your activity (ghostery).
You need to check your facts. Hickory is in NORTH CAROLINA not South! We are two separate states!
The titile is “Hackers steal North Carolina Insurance Agency Funds” nowhere does it mention South Carolina.
Still love internet banking?
“hackers apparently gained access to…account and routing numbers and were able to transfer the money out of the account”
James, it’s not just internet banking. Account numbers and routing numbers are printed on the bottom of checks. I think paying a bill online using good security practices is safer than putting a check in the mail.
But since we are on the subject of internet banking… I urge everyone to learn about the potential weak points in your personal security practices.
Is your home router secured and password protected rather than set to ‘open’? You can log into the actual router to change settings etc– has that password been updated? Many routers ship with default logins of ‘admin’ / ‘password’.
Do you link your online accounts to a free email account? In other words, if someone clicks a ‘forgot password’ link on your bank website will a password reset link be sent to a yahoo, gmail or other free webmail account? This is generally not seen to be a good practice, but if you must then do consider how strong your webmail account password is, how often it’s changed, and how strong the securty questions/password reset security is.
How good are your passwords? Hackers are getting better and better at writing password guessing algorithms, and the massive data breaches of the past 24 months have added hundreds of thousands of real world email addresses and passwords to the database– so the programs now have that much more data to analyze and potential passwords to guess. Passwords should be at minimum eight characters, and they should not contain dictionary words. Ideally you will want a 8-16 character string of random letters & numbers. For example, if you take the first letter of each word of this article, you’d get a password of hsnciaf. Add a number somewhere, and you’ve got a decent password that a computer won’t easily be able to guess– hsn12ciasf. Add some flair and it is even stronger– Hsn12Cia$f
How secure is your browser? Do you use up to date antivirus and firewall software? Is your browser up to date? Is your operating system updated w/ all security fixes? Advanced users might consider browser add-ons such as NoScript and Ghostery. These add-ons prevent scripts from running without authorization (noscript) and prevent websites from tracking your activity (ghostery).