Being a gateway to the digital world, the internet simply interconnects people offering them boundlcss experience and lots of information.

However, the internet has also become a preferred attack medium for hackers. In order to stay safe please follow the tips given below

1. Do not visit suspicious. Illegal or unknown websites.
   • Many websites aim at collecting data about you
2. Do not download free or unauthorized software
   • They are usually loaded with malicious codes that can cause damage
3. Be careful before filling forms, surveys or declaring personal information.
   • Be savvy about who to trust and you must know who you are talking to.
4. Private credentials should only be transmitted via secure “HTTPS” scssions.
   • HTTPS means that the scssion is encrypted and no one can snoop into it.
5. Be wary of websites which promote schemes that involves easy gains.
   • If you find it suspicious, carry out a web search to see if it is fraudulent.

Critical data is at the tip of your finger with smart phones. We use smart phones extensively in our day to day activities. Not only are they used for phone calls, they can also be used for conducting financial transactions, shopping online, communicating over various networking platforms and we do share too much information on them. Thus, it would be highly sensible to gather neccssary tips of protecting information on these devices.

1. Secure your device by using various security controls that are built into your phone (auto lockout, PIN, pcsscode, fingerprint, find my phone, etc...)
2. Ensuring your phone is up to date with latest patches and bug fixes.
3. Rooting and jailbreaking will weaken your phones inbuilt security controls.
4. Download apps from official stores such as the App store and Google play store.
5. Ensure your up to date contact details are registered with your bank. To be contacted by your banks personnel in an event usual activities are identified on your internet or mobile banking platform.

Always be cautious and vigilant to any usual behavior noticed over your phone.

Email has simplified the way people communicate.  People from across the globe can send and receive information in real time using email. Whether, it being a document, attachment, link, news alerts or registration forms it can be embedded with your mcssage and pushed over the cloud to reach the intended recipient within seconds.

Thus, attackers find email as a promising hotbed for various types of attacks. Typically by sending emails that promises wealth and health and is appealing to people and are laden with viruses and/or mal-intention. Most attackers would like you to click without thinking or maybe forward it to someone else to click. Understanding a few simple tips of email security would be advisable if your wish to benefit from what email has to offer.

1. Do not trust emails that originate from senders that are unknown to you
   • Use your own logic to evaluate the authenticity of a letter from a stranger.
2. Never forward suspicious emails (from questionable sources)
   • Inform the Information Security Officer if you find an email suspicious. Never forward it to anyone.
3. Always treat attachment with caution – especially executable files
   • Never click on files with unknown format or suspicious titles.
4. Do not click on external links (re-type the addrcss if you have to)
   • Sometimes the link is not what it says. It may direct you to a malicious websites.
5. Immediately delete emails with suspicious content after reporting to Information Security.
   • Especially those with personalized content that you never asked for.

Social Media offers the capabilities of connecting to friends, family and people with similar interests. It is also considered as one of the best advertisement platforms for many organizations.

Social media has also become as one of the perfect sources for adversaries to gather your personal information – participate wisely.

Being an integral part of one's daily routine, it does allow you to share as much information as you want about yourself, family, friends and work.

Adversaries can use this information to approach you in un-suspicious ways.

Always think about the type of information you are sharing and who you're sharing it with

1. Beware of sharing your personal details (name, job, organization, addrcss)
   • Linkedin is a perfect example. Just keep this in mind when sharing your data
2. Hackers do research your information before luring you into a conversation
   • And they can use this information to trick your family members and friends too.
3. Sharing artifacts, pictures and videos may reveal too much about you
   • Pictures could reveal too much about you (addrcss, street no. and wealth)
4. Do not trust what people say – always verify through you own channels
   • The internet is full of hoaxes and lies. A simple web search may reveal a lot
5. Always enable privacy features on your social media accounts.
   • The default settings are usually not sufficient. Spare the time to revise them.

The convenience of conducting financial transactions, paying bills, and buying goods online with a touch of a screen or a button has made life simpler.

However, to get the most out of your online experience, it is cssential to be attentive to few practices that should help you protect your financial and personal information.

1. Check if the website is safe
   • No spelling or grammatical mistakes on the URL web addrcss.
2. Security features to look out for when conducting online transactions
   • Always make sure private credentials such as payment info is transmitted via secure scssion “HTTPS” and the closed green padlock is appearing on the addrcss window.
   • It’s better to type the web addrcss instead of referring to a link for an online shopping or banking site.
3. Use the security options provided with the website
   • Use the inbuilt security options of the online banking or shopping site such as, virtual keyboard, registering, two factor authentication, captions, etc…

PC's and laptops are important devices in every household. These technologies are firmly embedded into every family's life. Kids and grownups are extensively using them for various activities.

It's a good idea to ensure that these devices are well protected to enable safe navigation for all on the digital world.

Find below few tips that could combat various cyber-attacks:

1. Install latest anti-virus and enable auto update
2. Ensure that latest patches are installed on your PC, operating system and software.
3. Enable parental controls on your devices whenever needed.
4. Enable acccss control on your devices and any inbuilt security options that are available such as, multi factor authentication.

Your pcssword is your identity, all your information is linked to that pcssword. The stronger the pcssword is, the safer the information becomes. Whether, you are shopping online, logging on to your social media accounts or acccssing your internet/mobile banking account, a strong pcssword is the key to protect you from undesired cyber-attacks. Hence, it is advisable not to share your pcssword with anyone and to change them regularly to ensure adequate control is imposed.

Please follow the simple guide below to ensure strong pcssword principle is understood carefully.

1. Never share your pcssword with anyone
   • Your pcssword is linked to your critical personal and financial information
2. Choose a pcssword that is easy to remember to avoid writing it anywhere
   • Think of private phrase that others cannot gucss while you can
3. Make sure to include letters, numbers and symbols for complexity
   • Avoid simple dictionary or common words – include numbers and symbols like (@,-,!,?,$,*)
4. Use a minimum pcssword length of 8 characters
   • The longer the better. Short pcsswords are easy to gucss or can be discovered using brute force.
5. Change pcssword regularly and use a new phrase altogether.
   • Do not repeat the old pcssword or use anything close to it.
6. Do not trust people who ask you for your pcssword. We at the bank will never ask you for it.
   • Never type your pcssword into systems or websites that you are not familiar with.

Digitalization is everywhere. The great experience you get from being online is observed globally. Whether you want to bank, shop, eat, socialize, do busincss, or watch a movie, all you have to do is simply connect to the internet.

However, with great experience also comes great responsibilities. With the amount of information people share online, it is vital for people to get educated in protecting their privacy and identity. This can be done by following the basic security tips provided, to reduce the risk of falling victim to the below mentioned attacks

• Identity theft: is when someone steals enough information about you to be able to conduct any activity online by pretending it is you to carry out undesired fraudulent activity such as, acccssing your online bank account details, communicating with your friends and family online by pretending it is you and gaining more private information that are valuable to you.

• Ransomware: provided in the security guide book

• Maleware: type of software that is intended to do undesired actions on your computer or damage it to gain acccss or leak your personal confidential data.

• Phishing: provided in the security guide book

• Brute force attack: provided in the security guide book

• Denial-of-Service (DoS): attack focuses on disrupting the service to a network

• Man in the Middle (MITM): provided in the security guide book