Online Security

Securely Manage Your MWA Accounts Online

MIDWEST AMERICA FCU HOMEPAGE: Make sure it says http://www.mwafcu.org/ in the address line. One trick phishers use is called “spoofing”. The phisher will set up a website that looks exactly like a legitimate one but has a different address. They then trick us into giving them information like account numbers, passwords, social security numbers or logon IDs. Once they have this information, they can go to the real website and use it to steal. A fraudulent email or link may direct you to a website that looks like ours at first glance, but the address is different. Sometimes the difference is very subtle and hard to catch like http://www.mwafcu.com or http://www.mwfcu.org/ which are only slightly different, but take you to the wrong site.

HOME BANKING: Make sure the address line starts with https://hb.mwafcu.org/ There will be more following this in the address line, but this is the most important part and the easiest to look for. If the address does not start with this, you may be at a spoofed site. Notice that the first part of the address “https” is different from the start of the regular website address, “http”. The extra “s” stands for “secure” and means that the information is sent over a “secure socket layer” connection.

Make sure there is a closed padlock in the frame surrounding the web page. This is also an indicator that the information is being transmitted with a “secure socket layer” connection. Sometimes phishers will put a picture of a closed padlock in the web page to trick you into thinking it is secure. Remember that it must be in the frame around the web page to mean, “secure socket layer”.

You can check the digital certificate. A Digital Certificate is issued by a Certificate Authority that certifies that a business and a particular website are connected, just like a photo on your driver's license connects your identity with your personal details. The Certificate Authority called VeriSign attests that the website hb.mwafcu.org belongs to Midwest America FCU and Midwest America FCU is a real business. To view the digital certificate, you can either click on the VeriSign logo on the left of the home banking log in screen, or click on the closed padlock on the website frame.

When logging in to home banking, make sure the picture and phrase you selected during set up are correct. If they are not correct, you may be at a spoofed site because phishers do not know what you chose.