SECURITY CENTER
Security Tips for Online Banking
Be aware of email within your Inbox
The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia will never send you an email asking you to provide any of your online banking details or credentials.
If you receive an email from what appears to be from The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia that asks for such details, treat it with suspicion as it is more than likely a phishing attempt to trick you into handing over your credentials.
Also, be aware of links within emails that appear to be from The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia. This could be a trick often employed by the bad guys to get you to a website that looks similar to our site. When you log in to “your account”, they can and will capture your username and password.
If is much safer to access your account by typing the address into your Internet browser directly.
Phone calls
Be aware of unsolicited phone calls that appear to be from our staff. When speaking with you over the telephone, we will ask you a security question, but NEVER ask you for your password or PIN number. If in doubt, hang up and call our Call Center directly.
Access our site from only secure locations
It is always best practice to connect to your online banking account while using computers and networks you know and trust.
Be wary of connecting to your account over a free public Wi-Fi hotspot such as, a restaurant, bookstore, hotel or airport. If you use these types of free Wi-Fi hotspots on a regular basis, you should setup a VPN (Virtual Private Network) on your device. A VPN will establish an encrypted connection between your device and our website.
Log out of your account when finished
When you have completed your account access, you should always logout of your account.
If your Internet browser asks if you want to Save your password when accessing your online banking account, your response should be No or Never to this site.
Encryption is the process of scrambling private information to prevent unauthorized access. To show that your transmission is encrypted, some browsers display a small icon on your screen that looks like a “lock” or a “key” whenever you conduct secure transactions online. Avoid sending sensitive information, such as account numbers, financial data and social security numbers, through unsecured e-mail.
Passwords or personal identification numbers (PINs) should be used when accessing an account online. Your password should be unique to you and you should change it regularly. Do not use birthdates or other numbers or words that may be easy for others to guess. It is always best to use a password that cannot be found in the dictionary. It should also contain an uppercase letter(s), lowercase letter(s), special character and a number. The more characters in the password, the more difficult it will be for someone to guess. Always carefully control to whom you give your password. For example, if you use a financial company that requires your passwords in order to gather your financial data from various sources, make sure you learn about the company’s privacy and security practices.
General security over your personal computer such as updated virus protection with the latest signature updates, anti-malware protection and physical access controls should be used and updated regularly. Also, make sure that your computer has the latest Windows or Apple security updates as well as other third party application updates for Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player and Java among others. Contact your hardware and software suppliers or Internet service provider to ensure you have the latest in security updates.
As an added level of security, we provide a program called Trusteer Rapport social that can be downloaded to your personal computer. The direct download for The Citizens Bank customers is:
www.trusteer.com/support/rapport-installation-links
(In the dropdown box, select Citizens Bank of Philadelphia from the list)
Trusteer Support Page
