Smartphone users, SBI has these do’s and don’ts for you to protect your bank account

The advent of mobile banking has made banking easy. One no longer needs to visit the bank to make demand draft or FD, check account balance and lots more. But with this convenience also comes risks and dangers. The number of online frauds related to banking apps and malware have been on a rise. There are also threats of phishing and fraud calls. But remember, all these in no way mean that mobile banking is not secure. Just that it is important to secure our mobile devices and be on our guard. The country’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) recently shared a list of dos and don’ts that every phone user must keep in mind to protect his/her money when online.

This will ensure that the valuable data remains traceable and secure, in case one loses his/her phone.

IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a unique number to identify any mobile phone. One can get a phone’s IMEI number by dialling *#06# or through the Settings app.

Always set a screen lock- PIN, passcode or a biometric password on your smartphone. This will protect the device from unauthorised access.

One tends to copy data from a computer without scanning it with Antivirus. This may result in a corrupt or infected file entering your smartphone and compromising the security of the device. Thus, it is always advisable to scan data before transferring it on mobile from a computer.

Along with new features, mobile operating system updates bring the latest security patches to a smartphone. This, in turn, helps devices from threats from virus attacks.

Using networks like public wi-fi compromises with the device’s security and makes it vulnerable to cyber attacks. Hackers tend to steal your information if the device is connected to these untrusted networks.

Although it is advisable to not store banking passwords or ATM Pins on smartphones. But even if one does, remember to use the app lock feature so that the information is password protected.

It is always advisable to use the private secure network while logging in to confidential and important accounts like official, bank, etc.