Just Explain It: How safe is your money from digital thieves?

In a lot of ways, public perception of cybercrime has evolved from the Hollywood cheese of 1995 flick Hackers when the Internet was hardly a household necessity. But there’s still a lot of murkiness in the digital underworld.

With the Internet symbiotically weaved into everyday life, cybercrime has become a credible threat costing Canadians US$3 billion in 2013, according to a report by tech security firm Symantec. It’s a massive leap from last year’s $1.4 billion but a small percentage of the $113 billion cost worldwide in 2013.

And in an age of mobile banking it begs the question, how safe is your money?

A survey by BMO found that more than two thirds of Canadian’s use banking apps on their smartphone.

But despite the overwhelming adoption, privacy and security remain the number on concern.

Some banks have taken steps to improve security by offering 100 per cent guaranteed protection should mobile app fraud occur.

Scotiabank subsidiary Tangerine became the first Canadian bank to announce biometric authentication this week, allowing clients with an iPhone 5s or higher the ability to use the phones thumbprint scanner to add an extra safeguard to their mobile banking platform.

In this week’s Just Explain It, we take a look at the role you can play in protecting your money from digital cat burglers.