Added value and security

Bank of Valletta has launched BoV Protect, a service backed by a software package that is being offered to customers free of charge.

BoV Protect provides an added layer of internet security on a customer’s personal computer.

“While BoV’s systems are secured by a state of-the-art security infrastructure, the personal computers our customers use to conduct their internet banking transactions can be infected by malicious software designed to simulate situations which could lead to online banking fraud,” said Michael Galea, chief officer operations at Bank of Valletta

“By installing the BoV Protect service, customers can protect their personal computers and keep them clean of financial malware, thus increasing security online,” he added.

BoV Protect was developed in collaboration with Trusteer, a market leader in financial security and provider of the Trusteer Rapport software. The software helps detect and neutralise financial malware on a personal computer.

Launching the service, Mr Galea said BoV was the pioneer of internet banking in Malta. “We were the first bank to introduce token-driven authentication when we launched the BoV Securekey in 2002.”

BoV Protect is available for free and the software can be downloaded and installed through the bank’s website at www.bov.com. Once installed, the software does not require any particular maintenance or user intervention, but will alert the user if it detects high risk behaviour or financial malware on the PC.

BoV Protect is designed to offer automatic protection to customers accessing the BoV website and internet banking services. It can, however, also be set to provide protection on other internet sites. The BoV Protect security application is designed to work on the most common browsers and operating systems.

For more information, log on to www.bov.com, call 21312 2020, or visit a BoV branch.