What you Need to Understand about Internet Banking Security

Anyone who wants to use online banking is probably worried about safety. And, with good reason. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world right now.

Its a scary statistic, that 1 in 10 people will have their identity stolen. One of the ways that these criminals get your information is through internet banking.

More and more people are taking the plunge into internet banking. It is extremely quick and convenient. If you live abroad, it is almost necessary.

By following some simple rules, you can use internet banking safely, and increase your privacy.

First of all, you need to make sure your institution uses a safe internet banking system. Make sure that they are using a 128 bit encryption system along with an SSL connection.

This information will be listed in your banking requirements, since the 128 bit encryption needs to be installed on your system as well. Verifying hat the bank is using SSL connection is easy. All you have to do, is login to your account and look at your browsers address bar. Just make sure your internet address looks like "https://" and then the rest of the URL It should not be "http". Also, your address or status bar will display a small picture of a close padlock.

Your next "safe banking" step is to ensure your bank is FDIC insured. FDIC insurance means, that if your bank fails, your deposit will be insured by the government. It is most likely that offshore bank accounts will not have FDIC insurance.

If you use offshore banks, this step is optional. But, if your bank (local or offshore) says it is FDIC insured, and it is not, it is a sign of fraud. You don't want to be keeping your money in a bank that is using fraud to get you as a customer. If they are an offshore bank without FDIC insurance, you just need to make sure you balance your risk.

To find out if a bank is FDIC insured, look for a logo on the site, and then confirm that it is legitimate. You can verify it with the FDIC, who keeps a database of FDIC Insured banks.

Getting you to enter confidential bank information is one of the tricks that criminals use to get your information. They will try to send you to a bank page that looks like yours. And then get you to enter your password.

Always be wary of mail that says it comes from your bank, asking you to click on a link. Getting a link directly from you bank is extremely rare. Usually bank mail will just tell you to go to your banking page and login. Banks don't ask you to clickthe link, they assume you know the address to type it in yourself.

When typing the address, ensure it is entered correccly. Its easy to buy a domain name one character off from your bank, hoping to catch people who make a typo.

Always make sure that you are using a "strong" password for your account. Make sure that your password is not easy to guess. Your password should have upper and lowercase letters, and at least one number to be considered strong.

You want a password that is difficulst to guess, but easy for you to remember.

Never leave your password sitting around anywhere. Just because it is in your house, doesn't make any difference. Robbery is getting more common, and this could mean your own home. Chances are good that you will forget that your password was even sitting out since you will be busy assessing your other damages.

But now, your personal information is out in the open. And while you deal with the theft in your home, your bank account is being cleaned out at the same time, without you even knowing it.

More and more people are realizing the convenience of internet banking. But it does make your more exposed to identity theft.

Fortunately, you can alleviate those risks with some simple safety precautions

With proper safety precautions in place, internet banking can be even safer than traditional banking. It is also a very convenient, and possibly necessary choice.

Now, learn the next step in internet banking saftey, along with living abroad news, internationlization, offshore bank accounts and more with a free subscription to Freedom Offshore Magazine.