Computer and mobile threats

Keep an eye out for threats to your computer and mobile phone and learn how to protect yourself from them.

Possible threats to your devices

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

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

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

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.

Malicious apps

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

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.

How you can protect yourself

  • Have a PIN on your phone and don’t share it with anyone.
  • Don’t use the same PIN for everything, e.g. EFTPOS card, mobile phone or internet banking login.
  • Always check the history of your downloads – especially if you’ve allowed someone else like your kids to use your phone.
  • Before you download an app, especially a free app, check the ratings and reviews.

Use caution when using public or shared computers

Computers at public places like internet cafés and libraries may not be as safe as your personal computer.

  • If you're unsure whether the computer has the required firewall and virus detection, it pays to wait and do your online banking on a computer you know has the necessary protection.
  • Take extra care when entering your password to make sure that no one else can see it.
  • Don't leave your computer unattended while logged on to internet banking.
Double check the website address

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.

Install software and hardware

Anti-virus software

New viruses are appearing all the time, and an anti-virus software can detect and eliminate these computer viruses.

  • Scan your computer with up-to-date anti-virus software at least every 30 days.
  • Regularly download updates to your anti-virus software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your anti-virus software.
  • Scan downloaded files and attachments before opening them.

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.

  • Make sure you have up-to-date firewall software or hardware installed and set it to work on incoming and outgoing traffic.
  • You should regularly download updates to your firewall software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your firewall software.

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.

  • Scan your computer with up-to-date anti-spyware software at least every 30 days.
  • Regularly download updates to your anti-spyware software from your software supplier or set your computer to automatically update your anti-spyware software.

For more information, see Symantec, McAfee, ZoneAlarm or Adaware.

Check for regular operating system updates

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:

  • Windows operating system – use the built in update tool to keep Windows up-to-date.
  • Apple computer running OS X – run the Software Update tool regularly.
Avoid using third party services to access internet banking

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.

How we protect you

  • 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.
  • Our internet banking security team monitors internet banking transactions and looks out for unusual transactions. You may receive a call from a member of our monitoring team to verify a payment made using internet banking.
  • If your internet banking password is entered incorrectly three times, access to internet banking will be blocked. This prevents anyone from making multiple attempts to guess your password.
  • The pages you visit while logged in to internet banking are not cached. This means that other people can't use your computer to view your bank account details by selecting the browser back button.