| Box
9 |
| COPING
WITH E-BANKING RISKS |
| |
Cyber attacks
have proliferated in recent years as more financial and
banking systems are now running on the Internet to deliver
online products and services. Financial systems that are
inadequately prepared to combat the rising trend and sophistication
of cyber attacks may become attractive targets for hackers,
criminals and terrorists.
The predominant cyber threats are purportedly from digital
worms, viruses, malicious software and malignant codes.
Besides worms and viruses, internet scams such as phishing,
web cloning, web cloaking, website redirection and email
hyperlinks to fake websites have become quite prevalent.
These growing e-security threats have compelled financial
institutions to devote more effort and resources to combat
cyber crime and digital menaces.
MAS issued two security advisories on internet kiosks
and phishing scams to help financial institutions address
these security risks. In collaboration with ABS, we encouraged
banks to provide more customer education on how to conduct
internet banking safely and to take adequate security
precautions. Most banks warn their customers against revealing
their passwords to anyone and advise them to always enter
the domain name of their banks into their browsers when
accessing internet banking. Consumers should not trust
hyperlinks or redirections from any external source, especially
emails or third party websites. |
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