The internet has made checking your bank accounts and brokerage accounts easy and couple that with wireless technology and the ability to trade stocks and transfer funds are near effortless.  But as with any online account, be it brokerage, bank or email, there is a risk of "leaving the door open" when you get up from a computer to go about the rest of your day.  When you log on to a computer that others have access to and then log into a website with your personal account information, simply closing the browser does not log you out of the website.  Without logging out of websites, another user can simply go back to your last website and login to your personal accounts without knowing your passwords.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulation Authority, has issued a warning about this specifically since many brokerage accounts hold you, the account holder, responsible for any activity on your account.  Your brokerage and bank accounts have extra security associated with them, so most account agreements will make you responsible for any activity that would come from your lack of attention to the account or for not logging out of websites.

So in order to make sure that unauthorized people do not gain access to your accounts, here are some tips to keep your confidential information confidential.  Always Log Out whenever you leave a website that you have logged into.  Do not just close a browser and assume that you have logged out.  Turn Off Autofill – Browsers now have password tools that remember your user names and passwords.  These are the first place hackers look if they get into your computer.

StarReviews Top 3 Stock Trading Websites

1) Zecco Trading

2) eTrade Financial

3) TD Ameritrade

Compare All Stock Trading Websites

• Avoid public computers when logging into financial website
• Never share your password information
• Create unique passwords and change them periodically.
• If you suspect that your password has been stolen or used by others, notify the firm where you have the account immediately
• If you must use a public or borrowed computer, you can diminish the risk somewhat if you clear all Temporary Internet Files and History from the browser after you are finished (if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, this is done by clicking the Tools menu, selecting Internet Options, then selecting Delete Files from the Temporary Internet Files area and Clear History from the History area). Note: You may not always have the ability to delete this information from someone else's computer, and you can't be certain if it contains spyware or viruses
• Never store passwords in a file on your PC or laptop