With so much digital information floating around online, it is important to remember that even though it's made things faster and easier, there are still people who will try to steal or manipulate that information. It's also important to remember that there are many ways to protect your financial information from cyberattacks.

1. Utilize Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentification is an electronic security measure in which a user must prove authenticity by presenting two or more pieces of evidence. Effectively, the user is who they say they are, but the website doesn't take their word for it. Four-factor authentification is a process that employs four pieces of identity-confirming tests in the fields of inherence and location factors, possession and knowledge.

2. Beware of Phishing Emails

Suppose you're a small business owner and you're looking for a sponsoring bank to help you get some emergency funding. Happenstance might just drop an offer into your inbox from a lending institution that's interested in helping you get what you need at great terms. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The truth is that phishing emails, fraudulent communications designed to fool users into giving up personal information, abound online. 

Phishing emails employ computer engineering techniques to disguise the email to make it look like it's been sent to you from a trusted, usually recognized, institution. The technique is also used with text messages or instant messages. If you don't have software installed that can protect against phishing emails, you'll need to keep your wits about you and never respond to an unrequested solicitation for your personal information.

3. Utilize Verified Apps

Apps are synonymous with technology. They are ubiquitous and more are arriving every day. A verified apps feature can help to ensure that your phone or device doesn't download an app that contains malware. If, when the feature is activated, it recognizes security threats, it will block its installation. The flip side is that the apps that make it through can be trusted.

4. Keep Your Personal Information Private

One of the most basic elements of financial security is in your hands. Important details like passwords, social security, credit card or bank routing numbers should be protected, at all costs. You could change your passwords every so often, paying attention to the strength quotient, which prefers symbols and numbers to go along with letters. 

Some sites are privy to your personal financial information, especially if you do your banking online. It's important to recognize the difference between doing your business on these secured sites versus putting your information out there willy nilly. If you receive solicitations, for instance, from people claiming to represent your bank or mortgage company, you could find out what they are looking for and then end the interaction. At that point, reach out to the institution in question and verify that they are submitting requests your way. Probably they will inform you that they are not in the practice of doing business in that manner.

Conclusion

As long as people are setting up instruments by which to scam people fraudulently out of their money, there will be an online threat. The good news, though, is that as long as there continues to be the threat of cyberattack, computer engineers will continue to develop the tools and resources by which to minimize the risk of losing sensitive information.

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