Mobile and online banking are the future of the banking industry. At the same time, the banking industry has been under constant attack by phishing attempts for more than a decade now, and the cyberattacks aimed at the financial sector are only increasing. Bank employees, as well as their customers, live in constant fear that they could fall victim to a phishing or spoofing scam. Security breaches like these have many banks of all sizes looking for an advanced way to further secure their websites and customer communications.
This problem has created a need to move away from easily abused domains to limit the exposure to cyberattacks. The trusted and verified .BANK domain was designed to empower online banking. Some of the most influential brands in banking have already registered their financial domain name and are using it with great success. In the following, we will talk about what the .BANK domain stands for and discusses the most important advantages it holds.
What is .BANK?
In the last few years, hundreds of financial institutions have been relocating their sites to a new generic Top-Level-Domain (gTLD) for the banking industry. The .BANK domain extension, which became available in mid-2015, helps to identify a website as the official online home of a bank. It is a great way to educate employees as well as customers and protect them against cyberattacks. To give evidence for this idea, we recommend a recently published article from TechLog330 talking about the cybersecurity tips that could save your company millions.
The fTLD Registry Services is operating the extension as an exclusive online stamp of trust. Similar to domain extensions like . GOV or .EDU, .BANK is only available to members of a specific industry. In the case of .GOV, only government entities can register the domain, while .EDU is exclusively available to educational institutions. Only credible banks and verified financial institutions like tech vendors for the banking sector can register the restricted .BANK domain.
Furthermore, it adheres to higher security requirements than most other available gTLDs. A candidate has to go through an application process and must comply with registry policies on an ongoing basis. In order to use a .BANK domain, you must meet the security requirements outlined by fTLD. Once obtained, however, the .BANK domain could become one of the most important tools in your cybersecurity toolbox.
Why should you register a .BANK domain?
The majority of recent security breaches stem from email phishing attacks, which can easily lead to violations, identity theft, and financial fraud. Most importantly, it causes a loss of reputation damage and burdens for the breached financial institution. Unrestricted and publicly accessible domains also enable criminals to obtain lookalike domains, with website URLs that are near perfect homographs of the original. Cybercrime involves emails with links that send the receiver to a fake bank website that looks similar to the authentic site. Once a customer types in some personal bank data, the attacker can get access to the account.
Thankfully, the .BANK domain provides the ideal solution to this problem. Since only verified members of the global banking community can get approved for the gTLD, customers can be confident that they are not falling victim to scams. With the help of the new gTLD, customers can immediately authenticate a legit business across all online channels and ensure safe banking. If the URL ends in “.BANK,” you can be guaranteed of the site’s authenticity.
In our modern world, banks are adding digital products and services to acquire new customers and build the foundation for a long-lasting relationship. Trust, reliability, and security are key in the banking industry and the largest benefit of obtaining a .BANK domain is gaining an excellent online reputation. Financial institutions use the gTLD to establish and maintain trust, which allows them to retain and grow a loyal customer base. A .BANK domain also helps distinguish a bona fide bank from a non-banking financial institution such as a wealth management firm.
.BANK helps to assure that a bank customer can verify that he or she is truly interacting with the bank before any personal and financial information is being exchanged. When a customer visits a .BANK site, they are assured that they communicate with the actual bank. The security compliance and monitoring also help customers to conduct sensitive financial transactions without fear of having any data compromised. The owner of a .BANK domain is, for example, required to have a digital security certificate to use a DNS service, which is also inside the .BANK domain and complies with defined security requirements. With enhanced security and visual authentication in place, you can furthermore use verified email for any customer relationship interactions.
Moving to a .BANK domain is easier than you might think
A lot of pioneering banks have taken advantage of the opportunity when .BANK first got available. As of May 2020, almost 3,000 .BANK domains have already been registered, and many more financial institutions are expected to follow the trend. If you also decide to switch to a .BANK domain, you do not just change your website address. The new and more secure digital home is an enhancement of your overall security posture — fortunately, domain registrars like 101domain, that are certified to help you register a .BANK domain, make the switch easy even if you do not have an in-house IT department that can help with the technical implementation. They offer the Registrar Assisted Migration Program (RAMP) for .BANK domains which is a streamlined solution to move your web presence, DNS, as well as web security infrastructure to the bank domain namespace.
Educate your customers
More and more banks are responding to the evolution of their customers’ banking needs and, therefore, have changed the way in which they speak to them about security. Banks and other institutions within the banking sector are trusted financial resources for information and act as prestigious guidance on business planning decisions. Customers rely on this trust, and the best way to keep it alive is to educate them about the advanced security the new gTLD offers. It is important to keep customers educated about their finances.
The investment in .BANK adds an additional layer of security measures. Once bank customers understand how much the extension can offer them, they will start keeping their eyes open for it, asking the question of why not every bank is relying on a .BANK domain. Understanding what the domain extension stands for will also make it easier for a bank’s marketing team to spread the word and ease consumers’ minds.
International partnership to fight cybercrime
The fTLDRegistry Services, LLC, which is the registry of .BANK, and the European Banking Federation (EBF) shared the exciting news that they are partnering to educate the European banking sector about the cybersecurity threats that plague the financial industry. They want to further educate online banking users about the viable and affordable security solution .BANK domain provides.
