Safer Internet Day is celebrated annually on 5 February all over the world. Bank of Valletta joined this campaign and in collaboration with BeSmartOnline! held an awareness session for its staff members on safer use of the internet. The session was mainly focused towards parents and guardians with the aim of highlighting potential dangers that children can meet over the internet.

Isaac Sammut from BeSmartOnline!, a project coordinated by the Malta Communications Authority and co-financed by the European Union, spoke about the perils that children meet over the internet such as cyberbullying, sexting, grooming, anonymous chatting, blackmailing and dangerous online challenges. 

He stressed the importance of ensuring a balanced use of the internet and the monitoring of children's internet activity and exposure. "Allowing children to stay on a device for hours on end, just to keep them quiet, is unhealthy and increases the risk for children to find themselves in undesirable circumstances. It is naïve of us to think that children in Malta are protected from situations that endanger them."

Together for a Better Internet calls for all stakeholders to do their part. Bank of Valletta takes a number of measures to ensure that its customers are safeguarded. These include:

• BOV 3D secure, an additional layer of security when using BOV Visa and BOV Mastercard for safer online shopping
• Secure email that limits the possiblity of fraud and account hacking
• BOV Protect powered by Trusteer Rapport, a free software designed to increase security and keep customers' devices clean from financial malware
• Controls in the BOV Internet Banking application that do not leave residual information relating to internet banking sessions
• Staff who are experts in the fields of internet, information and data security, whose main purpose is to keep customers safe

Additionally, BOV encourages customers to take simple precautions to ensure they have a safer internet experience such as:

• Confirm you are on the correct website before entering any login information, for example always type www.bov.com directly on your browser
• Install the latest operating system updates
• Ensure your device is protected through adequate updated antivirus/malware software and firewall
• Never open file attachements in unsolicited email as they may contain malware
• Secure your wireless network
• Never send your login, PIN details, passwords or bank information such as account numbers through email
• Do not write down your card or BOV Secure key pin or give them to anyone
• Report lost/stolen cards, Internet Banking securekeys and mobile (if you have BOV Mobile)

Customers who suspect frauduelent activity on their BOV accounts, BOV cards or bank communication should report such transactions to the BOV Customer Service Centre on 2131 2020. 

Further information on safety awareness can be found on www.besmartonline.org.mt while tips on safer online banking are available on www.bov.com.