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Internet banking transactions, etc ???
We are taking more and more two week timeshare vacations now that we are retired. And with the extended time away from home, I am needing to do banking, credit card, etc. transactions on the road. So many of the timeshares have unsecured wireless high speed interned these days, how does one make these transactions safely? I used to use AOL dial up, but dropped it since dial up response time was so painful, so I don't have that option now.
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Eric, you do not have to do it on the road, set up your payments from home to send out checks on certain dates,Timeshareforums Shirts and Mugs on sale now! http://www.cafepress.com/ts4ms -
I do the same Frank does...I schedule my payments to go out on certain days and have never run into an issue.Comment
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Internet transactions are pretty safe these days. If you may payments with credit cards, you are usually covered for any fraudulent transactions. If you do online banking, you need to be more careful. You can keep safe as long as you follow a few very important rules.
1) NEVER click on a link in an email or a website to access your bank account or conduct business. There is a chance that it is a phishing site that wants to grab your user name and password. ALWAYS type in the URL of your bank before providing a user name and/or password online.
2) Sign up for a bank that has super high security. The best ones put a cookie onto your PC and only accept logins from that pc or laptop without asking for another verification via email. And, such a bank often times asks you to upload a picture of something or someone that only you have. When they present that picture, you know it is them.
3) NEVER give out your social security number or security questions unless its being asked of you to verify that you are the owner. NEVER give out ALL of your personal info to the site. If someone does hack you, then they can only use the info you provide to them. If you don't provide it all, then won't have total access to anything.
4) Have anti-virus/internet security software that updates automatically and notifies you if you are at a known phishing site. When you encounter such a site, you will be notified real time. This is very helpful, but not fool proof.
5) Avoid sites that download programs onto your computer. The worst kind of program that can be downloaded is called a "keylogger" A keylogger is a program that records every key stroke you make. Obviously, if you go to a secure site and it records your passwords, you are screwed. If you do download programs, make sure it is a well known site that has reviews on sites like CNET.
6) If you have kids that play games on the internet, give them their own PC that has nothing to do with your banks. If they get hacked, at least your financial data will be safe. Kids are notorious at downloading stuff they shouldn't and not telling you until it is too late.
7) Most good banks have delayed transactions. Info on transactions will be emailed to you whenever they occur. If you see a transaction that doesn't look right, call the bank right away. If it is fraud, you can probably stop it if you do it quickly and update all of your passwords.
8) Don't put all of your assets into a single bank. In fact, keep one bank account that you use just for internet transactions. If it does get hacked, your financial risk is limited to what you have in that account.
Follow these rules and you can bank with peace of mind.Comment
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Good information, thanks.
How do you handle Woot, etc. purchases.Comment
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get an internet phone for thatOriginally posted by riverdees05Timeshareforums Shirts and Mugs on sale now! http://www.cafepress.com/ts4msComment
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I believe we have 17 Internet accounts. I even do our local banking on the Internet.
The two bills I have to pay by mail, trash collection and our electric bill, are a pain in the butt. The electric bill winds up getting there late fairly often because I am so used to paying everything electronically with no mail delay. I'd pay it online but they are really not set up to do it, so there is an extra fee.
Just yesterday I put all the websites in Favorites on DW's laptop because that's what we take with us. We go for two weeks, too, and I try to pay everything before we go.
Last January I was trying to sell our FICO strips every day while we were in FL, so I was on brokerage accounts too. This year I won't have that to do.RCI Member Since 24-Aug-1989/150-plus Exchanges***THE TIMESHARE GRIM REAPER~~~Exchanging/Searching/SW Florida/MO/AR/IA/Consumer Advocacy/Estate Planning/Sports/Boating/Fishing/Golf/Lake-living/Retirement****Sometimes ya just gotta be a dickComment
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We also pay almost all of our bills using online banking. Besides the normal timeshare trips, we split our time between two locations and this works out great for us. DH, who is not the most computer literate, has this all set up and has no problem doing this. We also are a guardian for someone in a nursing home and DH takes care of his bills online also.
NancyComment
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Using an unsecured wireless connection does not mean that your transactions are unsecured. Any site that does financial transactions will use SSL which will encrypt all of the communication, even if on an open internet connection.
The biggest risk of using an open internet connection is not unsecured transactions, but rather personal information you may have sitting on your hardrive. The most common is having non-encrypted or password protected financial files, such as Quicken data files, etc. Or even worse, a plain text file that contains all of your passwords, account numbers, social security numbers, etc. so you don't forget them. A good firewall helps, but encrypting any personal data is much safer.
If you stick to the suggestions Boca posted and use some common sense, I wouldn't be worried about using a open internet connection for banking or other commerce transactions. I personally do it all the time.
KurtComment
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I pay most of our bills via credit card or bank. The CC accounts are paid automatically by our money market account through our brokers company.
Recently I asked Sprint if I could do this and they sent an email letter for me to print out to do this. Now to fill it out and sent (by snailmail) back.
Our electric, DISH, Telephone are all taken out of our checking account. I still get either a email bill or snailmail bill so I know how much their bills are. I have one or two to set up via checking account then I am done paying bills
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5 Tips Every Traveler Should Know About Internet Security
This is some information I found.
5 Tips Every Traveler Should Know About Internet Security
- Brave New Traveler - Brave New Traveler - Online Travel Magazine -
5 Tips Every Traveler Should Know About Internet Security
Posted By david-defranza On In Uncategorized | 9 Comments
Internet cafes can be dangerous places. Here’s how to keep your information safe.
Photo by [1] Mark Shandro
Whether sending email, uploading photos, booking flights and hotels, paying the bills back home, and checking the status of a bank account, travelers use the internet for a huge variety of tasks.
The ubiquity of internet cafes around the world has made this convenience possible.
Sitting down at an internet cafe has become so common in the life of travelers that few stop to consider the security of these very public computers.
But if we do stop to think about it, internet cafe computers (and any information you send or access from them) are clearly vulnerable. Fortunately, protecting yourself is not very difficult.
Here are some things you can do to keep your data safe:
1. Get Portable Firefox
The first step to securing your internet connection, is securing your browser. The best way to do this is to install [2] Portable Firefox on a USB thumb drive.
When you sit down at the computer, plug in the thumb drive and start your own version of Firefox from there. As you will see, this small piece of gear is really a necessity for any traveler planning to use public computers.
2. Connect Securely
To ensure your online safety, it is imperative that you use a secure connection when accessing sensitive sites.
Once you have your own version of Firefox up and running on the cafe’s computer, it is time to connect to the internet. To ensure your online safety, it is imperative that you use a secure connection when accessing sensitive sites.
In most cases, when Firefox makes a secure connection a closed padlock appears in the right hand side of the address bar.
If you don’t see this icon, try retyping the address using “https” instead of “http.” In this case “s” means that you are using a special, secure, encrypted connection to the site.
If you always forget to include the “s” try bookmarking the secure site and using that link instead of typing in an address. If you are using a USB drive with your own Firefox browser, these bookmarks will be available anywhere you go.
Alternately, try using [3] this special script with Firefox, which automatically inserts the “s” into preselected site addresses.
3. Confuse the Keyloggers
Once you have established a secure connection, it is time to log in. Thanks to the use of “https” it is significantly more difficult, if not impossible, for people ‘looking in’ on the connection from other computers to steal your data.
Photo by [4] KingJeng.net
That said, the secure connection does not prevent a program on the computer you are using from recording everything you type. These programs, called “keyloggers” are especially dangerous when typing things like login names, passwords, and passport and credit card numbers.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do.
First, by using bookmarks saved in your portable Firefox browser to connect to sensitive sites, instead of manually typing in the addresses, you eliminate the common method keyloggers use to index data. This makes it much more difficult to assign, for example, a password with a specific email site.
A simple trick that will fool most keyloggers is to disguise your password in a sea of “dummy characters.”
To do this click the password box and type the first character of your password. Next click anywhere else on the page to deselect the password box, and type some random characters before reselecting the password box and entering the second character.
Repeat this process for each character of your password.
This works because most keylogging programs cannot distinguish random typing from typing in a specific field on a web page. For a more complete explanation of this technique, read the short [5] PDF report of a study testing it conducted by Microsoft, and this [6] discussion that followed.
If you frequent some really questionable internet cafes and you want the best defense against keyloggers, than [7] PasswordMaker is the answer. This program produces passwords that are very difficult to crack and is available as a add-on for your Firefox browser.
4. Use Encryption
No matter how well you have planned your trip, sometimes there is business that cannot be done remotely. When this happens, travelers are often forced to send sensitive private information to a trusted friend or family member.
No matter how well you have planned your trip, sometimes there is business that cannot be done remotely.
If you are in a situation where you must email credit card, pin, social security, or passport numbers, using encrypted email is a very good idea.
Email encryption codes your message so that it is indecipherable. A special key is created that can be used to unlock the coded message. The easiest way to send encrypted email is via [8] Gmail Encryption a script that is, obviously, specific to Google’s free email service.
If you don’t like Gmail, the [9] Encrypt This! add-on for Firefox will easily encrypt any text in your browser.
5. Don’t Get Caught by a Phisher
Phishing scams involve decoy websites or emails that mimic an official one. When you enter your information into the fraudulent site, it is sent to a third party. Carefully checking the address of websites you visit is the best defense against these scams.
Firefox also comes with some built in protection. To enable it, go to the Tools menu and select Options. Under the Security tab, check the box next to “Tell me if the site I’m visiting is a suspected forgery” and select the option to “ask Google.”
For a little extra protection, there are [10] several add-ons for Firefox that will make you even safer against phishers.
The Internet, especially when accessed from a public computer or internet cafe, is a dangerous place for your private data.
Fortunately, with a little preparation and care we can surf along without a problem. With precautions in place, you can worry less about your time online, and focus on enjoying your travels.
What tips do you have for traveler’s internet security? Share your own tips in the comments!Comment
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