Protect your User ID and Password

• Do not divulge your User ID and Password to anyone at any time for any reason.
• Do not save your User ID and Password on the computer. Do not use the "save and remember the password" feature in your computer/browser.
• Consider changing your Password on a regular basis. Make sure that your Password is difficult for others to guess. Please see “How to assign an effective password”
• Immediately change your password if you think it has been compromised.
• Do not type your password while anyone is watching. Make sure there is no one near you or who could look over your shoulder to see what you are typing.
• If your internet banking enrollment was made directly thru PNB's website, you were asked to nominate a secret question and answer. Please also ensure that this information is not divulged to anyone to avoid account take-over cases (said information is used to change your password in case you forgot it).

Secure your personal information

• Do not let anyone have access to your personal details. Make sure to give out sensitive information (e.g., bank account numbers, home address, mother’s maiden name, contact numbers, email address, etc.) only to trusted parties.

Make sure to access the correct and secure website

• Be cautious of “spoofed” emails which may trick you to click on a link and access a bogus website to capture your personal and confidential information. PNB will never email you and ask you to click on a link to go to PNB’s website.
• Check if the website is “secure” by checking the Universal Resource Locators (URLs) which should begin with “https” and a closed padlock icon on the status bar in the browser is displayed. To confirm authenticity of our site, double-click on the lock icon to see the security certificate information.
• When accessing the PNB website, manually type www.pnb.com.ph into the URL address bar and refrain from clicking a hyperlink to access it.

Keep your computer up to date with firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware programs and the latest patches

• Install a firewall to help prevent unauthorized access to your computer. This is especially important if you connect to the internet via a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem.
• Update anti-virus software frequently to guard against new viruses. Always use it when downloading files or programs to make sure they do not contain any virus.
• Keep your browser and operating system updated with the latest versions which often include security enhancements.
• Also install anti-spyware to prevent threats and malicious programs from entering your computer which cannot be detected and removed by most common anti-virus programs.
• If you do not know the source of an e-mail or if it looks suspicious in any way, do not open it. Delete e-mails from unknown senders without opening them. Do not open attachments; this may release a virus in your computer to track your personal information. Disregard and delete spam, chain and junk e-mails.

How to assign an effective password

You should make sure that your password is hard to guess. Here are some helpful tips in assigning an effective password:

• The password for PNB Internet Banking is case-sensitive and should be alphanumeric (combination of alphabets and numbers). Combine upper and lower case characters with numbers, e.g., “PasS4321”.
• Use keywords that are known only to you, e.g. a favorite book, author, event, etc.; e.g., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is translated to hpatcos. Just add a number or date to that, too.
• Avoid using easy-to-guess passwords such as names and birthdays.

Keep track of your banking transactions

• Review all account statements, including online statements, regularly to verify all charges are correct and to check for any suspicious activity.
  • Immediately notify the Bank for any errors or unauthorized transactions in your account through PNB’s Customer Service at 573-8888
• Log-off when leaving your computer unattended
• Make sure to log-off when you’re finished with your online transactions or leaving your computer unattended. Close your browser after logging off and turn off computer when not in use.
• Make it a practice to clear your computer’s cache to delete history of visited websites. Doing this would delete your transaction history in the computer’s memory and thus prevent others from accessing your account information.
  
  Please click here to access the "Clear Cache" procedure.

Other online banking security measures

• Do not provide your password or any of your personal information via email.
  
  Be cautious of e-mail and websites pretending to represent PNB that ask you to provide confidential and financial information.
  
  PNB will never ask you to provide your Internet Banking User ID and Password by Email. If you receive such a request, please do not respond or click on any links or attachments contained in the email
  
  "Phishing" is one of the most common types of e-mail fraud. To know more about phishing, please click here.
  
  
• Refrain from opening other browser windows while doing your online banking transactions.
• Do not access Internet Banking in public areas like Internet cafes. Should you, however, need to do so, we advise you to close the browser after logging off from your session. Change your password as soon as a private computer is available to you.
• Do not allow the “file and printer sharing” feature on your computer during your Internet Banking session.
• Contact our Customer Service at 573-8888 for additional concerns regarding Internet Banking security issues.

(Reference: BSP Circular 542)