Security

Accessing your account online shouldn't be a frightening experience. We want you to feel safe and secure every time you use any of our online services. That's why we've built a security system that safeguards your money and keeps your account information private.

Encryption

The privacy of communications between you (your browser) and our servers is ensured via encryption. Encryption scrambles messages exchanged between your browser and our online banking server.

How Encryption Works

• When visiting our home page to login to eBRANCH, your browser establishes a secure session with our server.
• The secure session is established using a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption. This protocol requires the exchange of what are called public and private keys.
• Keys are random numbers chosen for that session and are only known between your browser and our server. Once keys are exchanged, your browser will use the numbers to scramble (encrypt) the messages sent between your browser and our server.
• Both sides require the keys because they need to descramble (decrypt) messages received. The SSL protocol assures privacy, but also ensures no other website can "impersonate" your financial institution's website, nor alter information sent.
• To learn whether your browser is in secure mode, look for the secured lock symbol at the bottom of your browser window.

Encryption Level

The numbers used as encryption keys are similar to combination locks. The strength of encryption is based on the number of possible combinations a lock can have. The more possible combinations, the less likely someone could guess the combination to decrypt the message.

For your protection, our servers require the browser to connect at 128-bit encryption. Users will be unable to access eBRANCH functions at lesser encryption levels. This may require some end users to upgrade their browser to the stronger encryption level.

Authorization

It is important to verify that only authorized persons log into eBRANCH. This is achieved by verifying your password. When you submit your password, it is compared with the password we have stored in our secure data center.

We allow you to enter your password incorrectly a limited number of times; too many incorrect passwords will result in the locking of your eBRANCH account until you call us to reinitialize the account. We monitor and record "bad-login" attempts to detect any suspicious activity (i.e., someone trying to guess your password).

You play a crucial role in preventing others from logging on to your account. Never use easy-to-guess passwords. Examples:

• Birth dates
• First names
• Pet names
• Addresses
• Phone numbers
• Social Security numbers

Never reveal your password to another person. You should periodically change your password in the User Option screen of eBRANCH.

In addition to passwords, we also require you to set up a security question before accessing your account through eBRANCH. This security question helps us to verify your identity when you login to your account and provides an additional layer of protection from fraud and identity theft. This security question also can also be used to reset your password if you ever forget it when attempting to login.

Network Security

The network architecture used to provide the eBRANCH service was designed by the brightest minds in network technology. The architecture is too complex to explain here, but it is important to convey that the computers storing your actual account information are not linked directly to the Internet.

• Transactions initiated through the Internet are received by our online banking Web servers
• These servers route your transaction through firewall servers
• Firewall servers act as a traffic cop between segments of our online banking network used to store information, and the public Internet.

This configuration isolates the publicly accessible Web servers from data stored on our online banking servers and ensures only authorized requests are processed.

Various access control mechanisms, including intrusion detection and anti-virus, monitor for and protect our systems from potential malicious activity. Additionally, our online banking servers are fault-tolerant, and provide for uninterruptible access, even in the event of various types of failures.

Security Features

We provide a number of additional security features in eBRANCH. For example, online banking will "timeout" after a specified period of inactivity. This prevents curious persons from continuing your online banking session if you left your PC unattended without logging out. You may set the timeout period in eBRANCH's User Options screen. We recommend that you always sign off (log out) when done banking online.