There’s a new movement among banks trying to combat the ongoing threat of hackers, and a Hawaii bank is joining the effort.
Bank websites are often at the top of the list when it comes to being the target of a cyberattack, so a group of them created their own domain name: .bank.
“The .bank is now owned by American Bankers Association. They actually purchased the domain name for the exclusive use of banks, that’s the key security issue,” said Ed Pei, executive director, Hawaii Bankers Association.
Pei says the new domain name started a little over a year ago and applies to banks worldwide.
“There’s a lot of scrutiny that goes into applying and receiving one of these .bank top-level domain names and so that’s an important security measure,” he explained.
Pei says the new domain name was created as a way to add a new level of security, and it also helps minimize the potential for users to be redirected to fake websites.
Hawaii National Bank is the first in Hawaii to make the change. Starting Tuesday, its website address will be HawaiiNational.bank instead of HawaiiNational.com
So how does this affect you?
“The only thing it changes is how they access the website, so the back office, all the operational features remain exactly the same,” Pei said.
Will other Hawaii banks change over to the .bank domain name?
Central Pacific Bank says it is considering the switchover, and Bank of Hawaii says it plans to make the change as well.
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