|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
||||
|
Help Security
A Your account information is just as secure as it is at your physical brick and mortar bank. We've taken every step possible to be sure our system meets the latest security standards, including using the latest security encryption methods and software.
Q What about filling applications out online? How secure is that?
Q I keep hearing a lot about encryption? What exactly is it, and why does it make everything more secure?
Q What about information that is stored? Is it encrypted as well?
Q I'd like to know more about the security methods you have implemented. Where can I read more? (Coming November 16th, 2006) In October 2005, the FFIEC issued new guidance for banks regarding data security measures associated with Internet Banking activities. Banks are expected to conform to the guidance no later than December 31 The FFIEC and other regulatory agencies consider single factor authentication (i.e. password) not adequate protection for high-risk transactions including customer information or funds movement. Since single-factor authentication is inadequate, the FFIEC guidance calls for banks to implement multi-factor authentication, layered security, or other comparable controls to lessen the risk of fraud or identity theft. Northland Financial will enhance your online account access with Enhanced Login Security, which will satisfy the multi-factor authentication requirement from the FFIEC, on November 16th, 2006. This enhancement will protect your login credentials from potential identity theft and give you the assurance that your online banking experience with Northland Financial is secure. How Enhanced Login Security Works The first time you login following implementation (November 16th, 2006), you will be prompted to choose and answer three challenge questions. You will then be prompted to enroll the computer you are using to login to online banking by allowing a secure (encrypted) ‘cookie’ to be placed on your computer that will be recognized each time you login. Each time you attempt to login to online banking from that same enrolled computer, your user ID and password will be verified with the ‘cookie’ that was placed on your computer to further verify your identity. If you login to online banking using a different computer, you will enter your user ID and password. Because the ‘cookie’ that was placed on your enrolled computer does not reside on other computer(s) you may use for online banking, you will be prompted to answer the challenge questions you chose upon initial enrollment for Enhanced Login Security to further verify your identity. Multi-factor Authentication/Enhanced Login Security Q & A Q. What is Multi-Factor Authentication? A. Multi-factor Authentication adds extra security, requiring more than just one factor (user ID and password) to verify your identity when logging into online banking. Q. How does Enhanced Login Security work? A. Enhanced Login Security requires you to enroll yourself as a multi-factor user, by prompting you to choose and answer challenge questions, AND to enroll the computer(s) you use most frequently to login to online banking. Then, upon login you will be identified by your user ID and password, AND by recognition of the computer you are logging into online banking with OR by answering the challenge questions you chose upon initial enrollment for multi-factor authentication. When you enroll a specific computer for Enhanced Login Security a unique identifier is assigned to that computer using a standard secure cookie. The cookie is used to store the identification information only. No personal or private data is stored in any way. Q. How is Enhanced Login Security more secure? A. Enhanced Login Security protects you in the case that your user ID and password have been compromised in any way. No one will be allowed access to your account information by just using your user ID and password. Q. Why am I being asked challenge questions when I try to login? A. You will be asked challenge questions when we detect that you are trying to login from an un-enrolled computer. This is to prevent someone with stolen passwords from accessing your account information through online banking. Since only you know the answer to the challenge questions, we will know if it is really you attempting to login to online banking. Generally you will be asked to answer the challenge questions only when you login for the first time from a new computer. If you are using a personal computer to login, enroll that computer using the Enhanced Login Security feature located under User Options to avoid having to answer the questions upon each login. If you are using a public terminal, you will be asked to answer the challenge questions. You will not want to enroll a public terminal. Q. Can I access online banking from multiple computers? A. Yes! You can still access online banking from any number of computers. If you login from an un-enrolled personal computer or a public terminal, you will just need to answer the challenge questions you chose on initial enrollment. This helps protect you by keeping unauthorized people from accessing your account information through online banking. There is no limit on how many different computers you can use to log into online banking. Q. I am not an internet expert. How easy is Enhanced Login Security to use? A. Enhanced Login Security is extremely easy to use! Once you are enrolled for Enhanced Login Security, subsequent logins from an enrolled computer will verify your user ID and password to the ‘cookie’ on your computer and you will see no change in your online banking access from in the past. If you login to online banking using an un-enrolled computer, you will be prompted to answer the challenge questions you chose upon initial enrollment. It is that easy! Q. I share my computer with someone who also uses online banking. Can both of us login to online banking using the same computer? A. Yes! You can both use the same computer to log into online banking. There is no limit on how many people can login to online banking from the same computer. Q. What happens if someone steals my user ID and password? How will Enhanced Login Security keep them from accessing my account information? A. When someone tries to login to online banking using your stolen user ID and password, we will recognize that they are logging in from a computer that you did not enroll with Enhanced Login Security. They will be prompted to answer your challenge questions which only you know, and will then be unable to complete the login process. Q. Can I change my Challenge Questions? A. Yes! At any time you can change your challenge questions using the ‘Challenge Question Setup’ option located under User Options. You can change your challenge questions and answers as often as you like. NOTE: You can also change your password as often as you like by using the ‘Change Password’ option located under User Options. You will be prompted to change your password every 30 days for security purposes, but you can change your password more often if you choose. Q. How does Northland Financial know I am logging on to online banking from my own computer? A. When you login for the first time from a new computer, you will have the option to enroll that computer by selecting the Enhanced Login Security option located under User Options. Upon enrollment of your computer, we place a secure (encrypted) cookie on your computer. This cookie contains information that identifies your computer. The cookie is visible only to online banking and does not contain any personal information. Upon future logins, your web browser sends us this cookie. This lets us know that this is your computer. Q. What is Phishing? A. Recently there have been attempts by fraudsters to trick people into revealing their personal information, such as passwords, by creating fake web sites that look very much like the sites of legitimate financial institutions. They send out e-mails randomly with links to the fake web sites. This phenomenon has been called Phishing, (pronounced “fishing”). Q. I am trying to login to online banking from my own computer which I have already enrolled, and I’m being prompted to answer my challenge questions. Why? A. This may happen in rare cases if you have deleted all cookies from your computer. Before answering a challenge question, make sure you are at our legitimate bank web site. The easiest way to ensure that you are at Northland Financials’ website is to type our URL directly into your web browser - www.northlandfinancialonline.com. If upon login from our legitimate web site, you are still being prompted to answer your challenge questions, answer the questions and then re-enroll your computer using the Enhanced Login Security option located under User Options. This may also happen if you use more than one internet browser to login to online banking. If you use multiple browsers for internet access, you will need to enroll your computer for each browser you use. Q. What is a Trojan or Key Logger? A. Some fraudsters have been putting programs on random computers in order to harvest your user ID and password information used to login to web sites. They collect this information and secretly transmit it to their own computers and attempt to login to your site. These are called Trojans (short for Trojan Horse) or Key Loggers (for logging your keystrokes). Q. How does Enhanced Login Security protect me from a Trojan or Key Logger? A. Once you have enrolled for Enhanced Login Security by choosing and answering challenge questions and have enrolled your computer, even if a fraudster steals your user ID and password, his computer will not be enrolled and he will not be able to answer your challenge questions so he will be unable to login as you; thus, Enhanced Login Security protects your identity and your account information! |
