Secure Your Data

Suspect you are the victim of fraud?

Get Smarter With Your Data

As a community-based financial institution, Summerland is committed to making a difference and protecting customers by providing fraud prevention and detection information. One of our key roles is to educate customers to combat the different forms of cybercrime in Australia.

Summerland annually holds free seminars – Get Smarter With Your Data - for customers and non-customers around data security and fraud awareness as part of the Stay Smart Online Week. We encourage the community to come and join industry experts discussing current scams and how to better protect yourself from falling victim to criminals.

Passwords

Strong passwords are vital to keep your personal information and your money safe and secure online.

Protection tips

Use strong passwords of more than 8 characters with a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols;
Do not use the same password to access all your online accounts;
Update your passwords at least every 90 days;
Choose passwords that would be difficult for others to guess but easy for you to remember. Do not use your name or your family member’s names, your date of birth, your mobile number or other easily guessed passwords such as sequential numbers;
Do not share your passwords with anyone, even with family or friends; and
Do not write down your passwords, if you need to record a hint make sure it is disguised and secured.

Protect your email

Email Hijacking occurs when fraudsters gain unauthorised access to your personal email account and then send emails from that account to Financial Institutions seeking to conduct urgent transactions.

Protection tips

Do not give your email address out without really needing to;
Never provide your password to anyone;
Avoid using public computers or free WiFi hotspots to access your personal email account;
Change your password immediately if you suspect your email has been hijacked;
Before using your email address online, read the website privacy policy – it will tell you how they will use the personal information you provide; and
When you sign up for an online account or service be aware of default options to receive additional email about other products and services.

Social Media

You need to think carefully about how much information you share on social media sites, and who is able to see it. While most people who use social networking sites are well intentioned, there are others out there who may copy, forward or save your information to embarrass you, damage your reputation, or steal your identity. Once something goes online, you have very little chance of deleting it.

Protection tips

Always type your social media website address into your browser or bookmark it as a favourite;
Never use the same password that you use for your bank or email accounts;
Have a different password for each social media site;
Only accept friend requests from people you know;
Avoid clicking on links in ‘friend request’ emails;
Be careful about how much information you share online and with whom; and
Think before you post – how could your post affect you and others, now and into the future.