As I write this, we’re finishing celebrating Cybersecurity Awareness Month during October, so it seems like the perfect time to highlight how banks work every day to keep your data and accounts safe and secure—and how you should remain vigilant every day, around the clock, to keep your information safe and sound from fraud and cyber threats.
Banks are on the front lines defending against cyberattacks and securing data and personal information. Being part of our country’s critical infrastructure is both a privilege and a responsibility. Banks take both sides of that equation seriously and strive to serve their communities with financial products and services. And they do so while setting the gold standard in cybersecurity.
Banks are held to the highest standards and the strictest federal regulations of all industries, and outperform all industries in keeping data safe, even other critical infrastructure industries like energy and telecom. Banks encourage other industries to rise to the same level of safety and protection to keep systems and data protected.
Phyllis Gurgevich
Unlike other businesses that have experienced cybersecurity breaches, banks already have robust and uniform reporting and regulatory processes in place. Banks may be subject to any number of federal regulations, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Bank Protection Act and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, along with law enforcement. All can have a hand in determining how and when a bank responds to a threat or actual breach. Federal agencies and the banking industry have worked to harmonize regulations when possible to eliminate conflicts and ensure compliance.
Disaster recovery exercises are a required training tool and often include demonstrating a response to a cyberattack. Beyond industrywide strategies and requirements, Nevada Bankers Association members collaborate statewide to stay ahead of the latest threats and hacker innovations and to educate Nevada businesses and consumers on ways to stay cyber-safe.
Major threats on the rise include phishing and smishing—where bad actors pretend to be someone else, even a bank, and send an email or text trying to trick customers into sharing confidential information.
This summer, Nevada bankers partnered with the Nevada Attorney General in an anti-phishing campaign and also presented a web-based training class to bank customers that featured banks, experts from the AG’s office and the FBI.
All this protection might make you feel safe, and it should. You can be fairly certain your account and data are secured to the greatest extent possible. But it’s also important to remember that you hold the key to cybersecurity.
Bad actors continue to create new scams as they work to convince customers to give away their keys. Every day, ordinary people are scammed into giving away their hard-earned money.
Here are a few tips for staying vigilant and protecting the keys to your account:
Be skeptical. Avoid clicking links In your texts and emails. Be suspicious of threats or high-pressure language trying to get you to act quickly, no matter how official it looks. Never email or verbally give anyone your password or pin, or other personal information. Watch emails for attachments in unexpected emails, look for misspellings and typos and be skeptical. Fraudulent emails can appear very convincing, using familiar logos and even similar URLs. Delete fake texts and emails so you don’ t encounter them later and possibly use the fraudulent links or information.
Phone calls are often used to try and scam victims. Don’t just rely on caller ID. Fraudsters are spoofing and can make any name or number appear on your phone. Banks may need information to identify you if you call them, but not the other way around.
Take a breath. Many fraudsters and scammers rely on creating a sense of urgency, even threatening you. Don’t give in to pressure. Banks will never use high-pressure language to get you to act quickly.
Take a moment and even hang up. Even if it is a legitimate call, you can feel more confident that you are dealing with your bank if you hang up and call back at the number on the back of your card or on your statement. If you have the time, you might even want to go in to a branch.
Only pay people you know. Person-to-person payment apps have simplified things like splitting the dinner tab with your friends. However, you should never send a payment to someone you don’t know or have never met. It’s the same thing as handing cash over to a stranger.
Another person you should never pay through a payment app is yourself. Banks will never ask you to send money to yourself or to your new account. If you get a request like this, it’s a scam.
Phyllis Gurgevich is president and CEO of the Nevada Bankers Association.
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