Keep an eye out for threats to your computer and mobile phone and learn how to protect yourself from them.
Keeping the security up to date on your devices is a bit like keeping your gutters clean – it prevents more harm from happening. Here are some common security issues you can experience.
Viruses are passed from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person. They're commonly transferred by email. Most computer fraud programmes are passed on by a virus.
Spyware is programming that's put in a computer secretly to gather information about the user, which is then passed onto advertisers or other interested parties.
Worms are computer programmes that have the ability to copy themselves from machine to machine. It normally moves around and infect other machines through computer networks. Using a network, a worm can expand incredibly quickly.
Threats to the data on your mobile phone usually come from malicious apps that you or someone else who has access to your phone download. These malicious apps may gather user data – what sites you access, what you buy, etc. and can silently send or receive premium rate text messages or calls.
Trojans can be sent to your computer as an email, attachment or embedded in a website. It enters your computer undetected, giving fraudsters unrestricted access to your data. It can transmit confidential data including credit card details even if you're not accessing that data at the time.
Double check that you're on our official Kiwibank website before logging in: https://www.kiwibank.co.nz.
We use digital certificates that verify that you're connected to our official internet banking website. These certificates also confirm that all communication between you and Kiwibank is encrypted and therefore secure. Encryption is a mathematical method of coding information.
If you use Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) or Mozilla to access the internet, you'll also see the address bar is green when you visit our internet banking login page. We've done this to clearly show you're visiting Kiwibank's website, and not a fake.
If you're not sure which web browser you use to access the internet, it might pay to download IE7 or Mozilla anyway. You can do this by going to any internet page and searching for IE7 or Mozilla download. They're free to download and it doesn't take long to do.
We recommend that you use IE7 or Mozilla. But if you don't, you can still confirm our Extended Validation Certificate by clicking on the padlock to the right of the address bar.
Anti-virus software
New viruses are appearing all the time, and an anti-virus software can detect and eliminate these computer viruses.
If you're not sure if you have anti-virus software, it may be worthwhile taking your computer or device to your local IT technician to get them to install it.
Firewall software or hardware
A firewall controls your connection to the internet by filtering the information that's passed to and from your computer.
Anti-spyware software
Spyware secretly gathers information from your computer and passes it on to advertisers or other parties. It can even capture details such as your password and user name.
It can be installed without you knowing as a result of visiting a website or through clicking on an option in a deceptive pop-up window. It can also be carried in viruses or installed along with other free software downloaded from the internet.
For more information, see Symantec, McAfee, ZoneAlarm or Adaware.
Software suppliers often issue updates to fix problems found in operating systems and browsers. It's a good idea to regularly check for updates to your operating system and browser.
If you have:
We don’t recommend the use of third party services to access internet banking. The use of third party services invalidate our internet banking guarantee, not just for the affected transaction, but for all subsequent internet banking use too.
We advise our customers who've used third party services to access internet banking to change their password immediately and to update their Keepsafe questions.