Fraud Awareness and Prevention for Businesses

Current Fraud Alerts information for both Consumers and Businesses

Strategies for Mitigating Risk

Use a dedicated (hardened) computer specifically for conducting online financial transactions. Protect the computer with a firewall and antivirus software. The computer should not be used to check email or for general Internet usage other than to conduct financial transactions.

Use a bootable read-only operating system to conduct financial transactions online. The operating system is written to a read-only USB flash drive. The bootable system would be configured with only the services and applications needed to perform financial transactions. When the user needs to access the online banking system to initiate electronic funds transfers, they would boot the read-only USB flash drive on their existing computer, or the dedicated computer established for this purpose. Any malware that exists on the computer would not impact the user using the bootable flash drive.

Some vendors offer software programs providing on-demand desktop and session protection tools that safeguard the user's session by creating a virtual locked environment that will not allow malware or viruses to touch the session, even if the computer is infected with malware. This is similar to using a bootable operating system on a flash drive.

Additional risk mitigation strategies to share with business members include the following:

Install real-time antivirus protection and allow for automatic updates and scanning.
Utilize a desktop firewall.
Do not respond to or open attachments or click on links in unsolicited email.
Use strong passwords for online banking.
Disable autoplay to prevent the launching of executable files.
Disable file sharing if it is not needed.
Install security updates to operating systems and all applications as they become available.
Do not use computers accessible to the public to conduct transactions online.

Contact Bay Federal: 831.479.6000

Your savings federally insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government Agency.

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