When we think of cyber fraud, we often think of a hacker stealing credit card numbers. Even though it concerns us, we're comfortable in the knowledge that the credit card company will refund any fraudulent charges, minus a small fee.

That same peace of mind doesn't apply to business banking accounts, however. Banks are under no obligation to recover your money if cyber heisters steal it from your accounts.

This realization, and how seriously banks are taking cyber fraud, was driven home earlier this month when a client inadvertently clicked on a file attachment in an email whose subject line was very close to a deal she had been working on recently.

Opening that one file attachment triggered a chain of events that alarmed her bank enough to require us to replace the client's hard drive, perform an intensive two-day wipe of the drive, or replace the entire computer before it would give her access to her online accounts again.

A similar incident at another client the following week alarmed me enough to ask that client's bank representative just what the bank's cyber policies were regarding external fund transfers.

In that case, I learned that the client didn't have online funds transfer capabilities to external accounts, so any hacker that managed to steal the client's user name and password wouldn't have been able to transfer funds outside the client's accounts anyway.

The bank official went on to say that customers who do have the ability to initiate ACH or wire transactions must pass multiple authentication schemes. The bank also puts daily limits on total withdrawals and per item and transaction limits.

The banking official said regulations only allow banks a 48-hour window to return an unauthorized ACH debit and that banks, unlike credit card companies, are not liable for money lost to computer/electronic fraud.

Her advice: check your bank account balances and transactions regularly, at least daily, because you only have 24 hours after a fraudulent transaction is initiated to notify the bank to stop it.

If you don't know your bank's cyber fraud and cyber security policies, you should get them in writing ASAP so you know your rights and what you could lose if you are victimized by a hacker.

It's important, too, to take security measures to mitigate the risk of a hacker compromising your computer or network and gaining access to your online banking information. Those measures will vary depending on how much you would stand to lose.

For a security audit for your company, contact Eric Magill at 302-537-4198 or ericm@flexitechs.com