How do we keep your personal information secure?
Well that would be telling wouldn't it! In essence, though, we use a wide range of security precautions, including, high level data encryption (128 bit) - the industry standard for financial institutions. Encryption is a way of scrambling the transactions which pass between your computer and ours so that they are unreadable 

How do I know if my on-line session is encrypted?
In most cases, if you see a security padlock at the bottom of your browser window, your session is being encrypted. You can then double-click on the padlock to see the level of security being used.

Having said that, there are a couple of exceptions. In Internet Explorer 5, for example, the padlock sometimes disappears or clicking on it displays the message "This certificate has failed to verify for all its intended purposes". This is a software fault with the browser and we can assure you that all your on-line sessions with us are 'strong grade' encrypted.

SuperLine uses SSL security protocol

What exactly is SSL?
Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) is information technology in the form of a protocol. A protocol is a set or rules or procedures. SSL technology takes a message and runs it through a set of steps that "scrambles" the message. This is done so that the message cannot be read while it is being transferred. This "scrambling" is called Encryption (covered in the Privacy through Encryption section). When the message is received by the intended recipient, SSL unscrambles the message, checks that it came from the correct sender (Authentication) and then verifies that it has not been tampered with (Message Integrity).

Privacy through encryption
Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol "scrambles" the message so that only the intended recipient can read it. The "scrambling" is basically done with technology called Encryption. Encryption software acts like the cable converter box on your television set. It scrambles the data with a secret code (Server's Public Key) so that no one can make sense of it while it's being transmitted. When the data reaches its destination, the same kind of software unscrambles the information (Server's Private Key).

Is that really you?
Authentication is the process used by SSL to verify the identity of the sender. Once a secured connection is established between two parties, any message received from an outside party will be rejected or the User will be notified. SSL does this by creating a unique message "fingerprint" (also called a digest) for both parties and attaching a digital signature to each message.

Did you really say that?
SSL verifies Message Integrity by taking the process of Authentication a step further. If the unique message "fingerprints" (or digests) do not match perfectly, SSL understands that the message has been altered.

Clearing out the cache
Once you have exited your on-line session, you should always clear out your cache - the place where your browser stores the web pages you have visited during your session. Even better some browsers will let you prevent any encrypted pages being stored at all. If yours offers this function, use it. It's easy to clear out the cache in any browser. If you don't know how to do it, see the 'help' section in your browser.

Install anti-virus software
Anti-virus software will protect your system from known viruses, including Trojan Horses which can monitor your key strokes and pass on the information across the internet. So it may be useful to install suitable software and to scan your systems before you log on. You can find good quality anti-virus software on the internet.

Protect your browser
As the software companies are quick to fix any browser security problems before they can be exploited by a third party, it's well worth keeping up with the latest security patches they issue. You can find them at:

Click here for Internet Browser security info:

Microsoft Internet Explorer Security

Netscape Security Center