In the world of finance, email hacking, website attacks, and identity theft have taken on a personality of their own and the field of cybersecurity has now become an industry worthy of monitoring. Investors and traders in all financial instruments should view cybersecurity seriously and be aware of the possible consequences involved.
Investors can do their bit to safeguard their money through a series of simple actions such as installing a good security software package which comes with anti-virus, anti-spam, and spyware detection features.
Security Code
Having a firewall set up on the computer or inserting a security code device that requires a password to enter is also advisable. Passwords should be creative so they are not easily duplicated and a mobile phone can be added to any Google account to receive a code that will reset your password via text message or automated call should any fraudulent activity be detected.
All these personal efforts are noteworthy but they don’t always eliminate the possibility of identity theft or hacking. Even large corporations that invest millions of dollars annually on security systems often find themselves prey to duplicity and fraud.
Only recently, Home Depot Inc. confirmed that its payment security systems had been breached, a data theft that could affect its customers in stores across the United States and Canada. This breach could be larger than the one that hit Target stores just last year when hackers stole at least 40 million payment-card numbers and 70 million other pieces of customer information. Since the 4th quarter of 2013, Target has spent over $146 million to resolve date-breach related claims.
Several years ago, Forex broker Oanda was hacked and the usernames and passwords of a number of account holders in their customer data base were used in an unauthorized manner, allowing an intruder to view the personal information of a limited number of their account holders. Only about 100-150 out of about 50-75,000 clients were affected but this was not a pleasant experience.
