Is doing my finances on my phone safe?

[B and C]

And yet people even in this day and age keep falling for it. They wouldn't do it if people were wise. A lot of people must order from the telemarketers too as the keep calling. If there wasn't money to be made, they would stop.

 

[crofter]

Lots of random calls asking for personal info, and have been reported, so be very careful answering your phone. I do not answer my phone as everyone calling who is legit knows they have to leave a message. I usually call back immediately to those in my circle of contacts, but may not return calls of those outside my circle. Most of the calls we are getting now are purely scammers. Two of the most notable scam calls was someone saying they were the social security office trying to get identity info, and then someone saying they were from the disabled police officers trying to get banking info. -crofter

 

[Tony's Dream]

I use a VPN supplied from LifeLock.

Another scam to be watching for is someone who calls you and asks, "Can you hear me?" You respond with "Yes" which is recorded and suddenly get disconnected. They use your recorded voice to confirm an online order.

 

[jacqueg]

Lots of random calls asking for personal info, and have been reported, so be very careful answering your phone. I do not answer my phone as everyone calling who is legit knows they have to leave a message. 

That's what I do too. My iPhone is set so that it only rings when the call is from someone on my contact list. Otherwise, it all goes straight to voice mail. No muss, no fuss.

 

[pure_mahem]

I do use public wifi all the time. But I wont enter a password while on it or make any transactions. I will turn my wifi off and turn on my mobile data and do things like that. If I want to save my data I can then turn the wifi back on and turn the mobile data back off after. No issues so far. If I dont have service then it will have to wait. My most visited sights already have the password saved and encrypted so they cant get it if your not typing it. Well maybe they can but then again anyone can pick a lock too. Security will only take you so far.

 

[WILD@HEART]

You can use a VPN

 

[barleyguy]

Something to know about going to a bank in person...

When you go to the bank in person, the teller essentially logs into online banking for you. Then they scan any checks you give them and deposit the scans to your online account. They withdraw any money from your account online and give it to you.

You aren't changing much by having them do it instead of doing it yourself, except that they generally have a direct connection over a private network, instead of going over the internet. When you do it yourself, it goes over the internet using SSL encryption, which should be very secure. As implied in this thread, you do need to make sure your local network is secure, and probably avoid doing banking over public Wifi, such as at a coffee shop.

 

[barleyguy]

You can use a VPN

How much do you trust your VPN company?

Using a VPN service just adds an extra layer of encryption from you to the VPN company. If you trust them implicitly, cool. It does make that part of the connection more secure to other people other than them.

Because all of your traffic goes through the VPN company, and they are in charge of the encryption, it actually puts them in charge of your security. They could even, theoretically, do a "man in the middle" attack on your SSL traffic. So again, the security of a VPN comes down completely to how much you trust the company providing you with VPN.

 

[B and C]

Any VPN company that gets caught doing a man in the middle attack won't be in business long. Go for an established company if you don't trust the direct SSL encryption between your phone and the bank. I use my laptop connected to my hotspot (essentially the same) to do any financial stuff.

 

[barleyguy]

Any VPN company that gets caught doing a man in the middle attack won't be in business long.  Go for an established company if you don't trust the direct SSL encryption between your phone and the bank.  I use my laptop connected to my hotspot (essentially the same) to do any financial stuff.

I agree totally. If they got caught doing that it would be a storm of bad publicity and they'd probably go out of business very quickly. I just brought up the topic because people need to consider whether they trust the company providing their security. Like you said, go with established company that many people have heard of, so they can be tried by public opinion.

I just use my hotspot as well, and make sure my settings for the hotspot are configured in a secure manner.

I used to go to the bank in person, but now that they are just doing online banking for you, I really don't see the point. Sometimes the girls are cute. 

 

[B and C]

Sometimes the girls are cute. 

And the lines are long

I only go in if an ATM won't give me enough cash.