WINDHOEK – More and more clients, both corporate and individual, are now making use of internet banking services.
Transacting on internet banking does not only offer clients the convenience of making financial transactions in the comfort of their own homes, it is also cheaper than over-the-counter transactions. Clients also avoid having to stand in long queues, especially during peak periods.
However, as online financial transactions increase, online fraud also increases, thus making clients vulnerable to phishing scams. Fraudsters are continuously developing sophisticated scams to counteract the new security features that banks and other financial institutions are developing to mitigate fraud. Despite the awareness on online fraud, some clients still fall victim to phishing scams.
Bank Windhoek’s enhanced internet banking services, iBank, which will be re-launched soon, offer its clients the assurance of a three-layer protection to keep their money safe and secure from online fraudsters.
During your internet banking session, all communications are performed via secure socket layers and 128 bit encryption. This process transforms sensitive information into a string of unrecognisable characters to keep the transmitted information safe from unauthorised parties.
Clients can be assured that the information is being protected by the most sophisticated online security system available.
A unique username and password is assigned to all users upon registration. This is the second security layer. The user will be required to change their initial password to a password of choice complying with newly introduced international security standards, to ensure that a strong password is associated with the client’s online profile.
It is advisable to regularly change the password, especially after incidents where a client’s credentials could have been compromised (e.g. opening a phishing e-mail).
The third security layer is the E-Secure Token. This is a small device that authenticates the client’s identity before logging into his/her internet banking account, preventing access to their online services by unauthorised users.
The client enters their secret PIN on the token, which then generates a unique OTP (one-time-PIN). This unique code is used together with the username and password to log onto the client’s iBank account.
The E-Secure Token is small enough to act as a key holder and the client receives it at no extra cost when registering for iBank.