How to Secure Your Browser for Online Banking

Most online banking fraud doesn't break your bank's security. It tricks you into signing in on a fake site, installs something that watches your browser, or talks you into sending money. A few browser habits block most of it.

1. Use a clean profile for banking

Create a separate Chrome profile with no extensions, and use it only for banking and other financial accounts. Extensions with access to all sites can read your bank pages, and a clean profile removes that risk entirely. See how to use Chrome profiles.

2. Get to your bank safely

• Bookmark your bank's real address and always use the bookmark.
• Don't click bank links in emails or texts. Open the bookmark instead.
• Be careful with search ads. Scammers buy ads that look like banks. See how to tell ads from real results.
• Check the address bar before signing in. A padlock only means the connection is encrypted, not that the site is real.

3. Strong sign-in

• Use a unique password from a password manager, which also refuses to fill passwords on fake sites.
• Turn on two-step verification, ideally with an app or a passkey rather than text messages.
• Set up alerts with your bank for logins, new payees and large payments.

4. Chrome settings

• Enhanced protection: Settings → Privacy and security → Security → Enhanced protection checks sites and downloads against Google's latest threat data.
• Keep Chrome updated: it updates itself; restart when it asks.
• Don't save cards on unfamiliar sites, and remove ones you no longer use.

5. Watch your clipboard

When you copy account numbers or one-time codes, any site you visit can ask to read your clipboard. Clipboard Guard asks you before a site reads it, lets you allow trusted sites, and keeps a log. Also: never paste a command a website tells you to run on your computer to "verify" or "fix" something. That's a common scam.

6. On public Wi-Fi

Bank sites are encrypted, so public Wi-Fi is less risky than it used to be. The bigger risk is fake hotspots and login pages. Use your phone's data or a trusted VPN for banking away from home.

7. Know the scams

• Your bank will never ask for your full password or a one-time code by phone, text or email.
• "Move your money to a safe account" is always a scam.
• Pop-ups saying your computer is infected, with a number to call, are fake.

If you think you've been caught, call your bank using the number on your card. For downloads, see how to download files safely.