Electronic Services Security

Fraud is a sad fact of life and the damage is enormous. Potential damage to your personal credit and financial history often takes years to repair. Criminals are finding new ways to steal accounts and identities. Innovation Credit Union has a vested interest in your security and protection.

iClick Online Banking
Payment Card Best Practices
Phishing
Nigerian Scam

iClick Online Banking®

Protect your password

Your login name and password in iClick Online Banking® grant you access to your personal information and online services. You do not want someone else to easily guess this information.

Keep your password confidential.
Protect your password. Memorize it, do not write it down or store it in a PC file. Change it frequently and do not reveal it to anyone.
Never disclose your password in a voice or email. Do not disclose it over the phone, especially cellular phones.
Avoid passwords that are obvious choices, like birthdays, telephone numbers, PINs or SINs. But make sure that the password you choose is easy to remember.
Choose unique passwords. Longer passwords are harder to figure out than shorter passwords.
Change your password regularly, like every 90 to 120 days.
Do not permit anyone to watch you type in your password.
Contact Innovation Credit Union immediately if you cannot remember your password or if you suspect that someone has gained knowledge of your password.
Contact Innovation Credit Union immediately if you believe there are any errors or omissions in your account.

Protect your PC

Never leave your PC unattended while using the Internet banking system. Always exit the Internet banking system and your Internet browser if you step away from your PC.

If your login name or password automatically appear in the sign-in page of a secure website, you should disable the auto complete function in your browser.
Install and use a quality anti-virus program.
Your Internet browser software may retain information you entered until you exit your browser. Secure or erase files stored on your PC by your Internet browser so they cannot be read by others. Most Internet browsers store information in non-encrypted files in the browser's cache to improve performance. The files remain there until they are erased.

Keep your software up-to-date

The software you use can affect the security of your online banking activities. You should watch for warnings about security "bugs" that may affect the software and web browser you are using. Regularly check for software updates on the website of your manufacturer. Protect yourself against identity theft.

Identity thieves steal your personal information and use it to obtain funds or credit in your name. Identity theft can take months to detect and it can take just as long to correct the damage. To protect yourself from identity theft, do not give thieves an opportunity to steal your information. Keep important information in a safe place. Monitor bills and statements and, when discarding sensitive information, ensure it is shredded.

If you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft, file a report with the police immediately. Ask for a copy so that you can provide the evidence to the various companies you have to contact. Then contact your credit union representative to ensure that all debit and credit cards, and accounts are secure.

Security System

At Innovation Credit Union, information security is a top priority. We use advanced technologies to protect your information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or misuse. Innovation Credit Union anticipated its members' security concerns. We built a security system from the ground up in order to safeguard your money and keep your account information private.

iClick Online Banking uses many lines of defense, including encryption, automatic sign-off and firewalls to protect your account information. So whether you're enrolling online for Internet banking, transferring money or paying your bills, you can depend on your accounts and your account information being safe.

We recommend that you use the built-in security features that browsers provide. Choosing certain security settings and options will help protect the privacy of your accounts and personal information.

From the moment account information leaves your computer to the time it enters Innovation Credit Union's computers, all online banking sessions are encrypted. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an unreadable format. It is more secure to transmit encrypted data over the Internet than data in it's 'raw' form. That means your password as well as all information relating to you and your accounts employ some of the best forms of cryptography that are commercially available for use over the Internet, making it difficult for unauthorized individuals to intercept, read or alter your online communications and transactions. Encrypted data is sent through the Internet to Innovation Credit Union's secure Internet banking system which then decrypts (unscrambles) the data.

We also require that your browser support 128-bit encryption when you access our online services. The higher the number of the encryption, the more complex the encryption. 128-bit encryption is the strongest level of encryption that is publicly available. Although 40-bit encryption is the international standard, iClick Online Banking requires you to use a browser that supports 128-bit encryption. According to Netscape, 128-bit encryption is 309,485,009,821,345068,724,781,056 times more secure than 40-bit encryption. If for any reason your secure session ends, your online banking session automatically terminates.

How do I disable the save password option?

When the Save Password Option is selected on the browser, the Save Password prompt program is automatically launched. The system will remember all account numbers and corresponding access codes entered into any website on the PC without further prompts. If there are different people using the same PC, all of their account numbers and passwords will be saved in Internet Explorer. For security reasons, it is recommended that this function not be used.

If you have enabled this function and wish to disable this function in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the following procedures are to be followed:

With your browser running, click on "Tools."
Click on "Internet Options."
Click on the "Content" tab.
Under Personal Information, click on "AutoComplete."
Under Use AutoComplete, click on the tick box beside "User names and passwords on forms" to remove the tick mark.
Under Clear AutoComplete history, click on "Clear Forms" and click "OK."
Under Clear Auto Complete history, click on "Clear Passwords" and click "OK."
Click "OK."
Click "OK" to exit the menu.

If Internet Explorer asks again if you wish to save a password, the AutoComplete window displays:
Click on the tick box beside "Don't offer to remember any more passwords."
Click on "No."

Technology is constantly changing. Innovation Credit Union's security standards are among the most stringent of any company on the Internet. Our standards are high and if a browser isn't secure enough for online banking, Innovation Credit Union won't permit it to be used to conduct banking sessions.

Likewise, iClick Online Banking® keeps abreast of and implements relevant technology developments, whether it is an improved form of encryption or a better method for monitoring unauthorized intrusion. Our security team constantly monitors attempts to break into our security system to make sure your account information is safe and secure.

Payment Card Best Practices to Reduce Risk of Card Skimming

In light of recent media coverage about card skimming activity, here’s a reminder about payment card safety.
With holiday travel time here, it is a good time to keep these tips in mind that can help to reduce the risk of card skimming. Before getting into the tips, let’s see how you fare with our skimming quiz:

When dining out, do you hand your credit card to the server and wait at the table for your receipt?
When fuelling up, do you hand your card to the pump attendant and wait for your receipt in your comfy vehicle?
In an ATM lobby where two of three ATMs have ‘out of order’ signage, would you proceed to use your card at the third apparently functional ATM?
Would you use a merchant PIN pad terminal bearing a ‘Press Hard’ sticky note?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you are at a greater risk of being skimmed sooner rather than later. The following card usage best practices will help you enjoy your travels and reduce your risk of being skimmed year round.

Be alert - keep your card in your sight at all times during transactions to ensure your card is not swiped through a foreign device.
Protect your PIN – shield it with your body, free hand, or both.
Check your receipts - ensure they display the correct amount, date, time.
Review statements regularly - report unauthorized transactions to your credit union immediately.

For more tips on keeping your debit card and PIN safe, visit Interac’s website at: http://www.interac.ca/consumers/security_protect.php.

Phishing

Phishing attacks use "spoofed" (look alike) emails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social insurance numbers (SIN), etc. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known financial institutions, online retailers, and credit card companies, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them.

Internet users should follow these three simple rules when they see emails or websites that may be part of a phishing scheme: Stop, Look, and Call.

Rules to Avoid Phishing
Stop	Phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails with one purpose in mind. They want people to react immediately to that false information, but clicking on the link and inputting the requested data before they take time to think through what they are doing. Internet users however, need to resist that impulse to click immediately. No matter how upsetting or exciting the statements in the email may be, there is always enough time to check out the information more closely.
Look	Internet users should look more closely at the claims made in the email, think about whether those claims make sense, and be highly suspicious if the email asks for numerous items of their personal information such as account numbers, usernames, and passwords. For example: If the email indicates that it comes from a financial institution where you have a debit or credit card account, but tells you that you have to enter your account information again, that makes no sense. Legitimate financial institutions already have their customers' account numbers in their records. Even if the email says a customer's account is being terminated, the real financial institution will still have that customer's account number and identifying information. If the email says that you have won a prize or are entitled to receive some special "deal", but asks for financial or personal data, there is a good reason to be highly suspicious. Legitimate companies that want to give you a real prize don't ask you for extensive amounts of personal and financial information before you're entitled to receive it.
Call	If the email or website purports to be from a legitimate company or financial institution, Internet users should call or email that company directly and ask whether the email or website is really from that company. To be sure that they are contacting the real company or institution where they have accounts, credit card account holders can call the toll-free customer numbers on the backs of their cards, and financial institution customers can call the telephone numbers on their financial statements. Never call the number given in the email to confirm the content's validity as it will lead to the criminals who sent the email and they will verify whatever was said.

Nigerian Scam

A person will receive a call, letter, or email stating that someone has money stuck in a foreign country and they are looking for outside assistance to get their money out. The person will be offered a large portion of the money if they help, sometimes millions of dollars. This person will then be told that they just need to provide their financial account information so that the money can be transferred to cover the costs of getting through the red tape for the release of funds. If the person provides the requested funds, they will eventually be asked for more and more money to assist in getting the funds released or their account will be hacked and money transferred out. Sometimes a cheque is sent to a person adn they are requested to cash it, keep their portion and wire the rest back to the criminal or a third party. In all cases, the cheque will be a counterfeit cheque and the member will lose the funds wired to the criminal. Letters or emails for these types of scams are typically badly written with many spelling mistakes.

Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian business people or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation. Guard your account information carefully.