You can connect securely with your broker, mostly
— -- Q: How do I know if my Internet connection with my online broker is secure?
A: When dealing with your money, you can't be too careful. And that's especially true online.
Recent security breaches serve as a reminder of how you should never let your guard down. Most recently, in September, TD Ameritrade said one of its databases, containing names and e-mail addresses, was hacked. You can read about the breach here. The breach was on TD Ameritrade's side, meaning if you were a customer, there was nothing you could have done to stop it. Still, it's a reminder of the dangers.
A story that appeared in USA TODAY in 2005 discusses many of the tricks bad guys use to crack online accounts. You can read it here.
It's difficult to make any online account 100% secure, but there are things you can do to stop less determined hackers. I'm not trying to scare you. Trust me, the benefits of online investing far outweigh the risks. Still, you need to be aware of the dangers and how to protect yourself.
You need to be especially careful when using public Internet connections, such as a public wi-fi access point or a shared computer.
Here are some things you can do:
•Secure your PC. You should install and run anti-virus software on your computer. There are excellent, and free, anti-virus software packages available such as Grisoft's AVG Free. You can download the software at free.grisoft.com. Next, you should periodically check your computer for spyware, which is code that takes information without your permission. Grisoft also offers free spyware blocking software, called AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition.
•Heed your browser. Internet browsers, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7, contain features that help online investors. If you're running an older version of Internet Explorer, you should install the free upgrade available at www.microsoft.com/ie.
How can the browser protect you? First, before you enter any personal information into a Web page, you should look for a padlock icon to the right of the browser's address bar. This is an indication the site is a secured website. When there's a padlock icon, Internet Explorer works with Windows to encrypt the sensitive information. Your information is put into a format others cannot read until it's decoded by the receiving website. Generally, secured websites' addresses begin with https:, instead of the more common http.
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