FBD Online Security Information

Online security - stay safe!

At FBD we understand how important the security and confidentiality of your information is. Keeping customers information secure is a top priority for us, but it is also important for you to protect your security online.

Learn more by clicking on a link below or alternatively visit http://www.makeitsecure.ie/ for guidance on how best to protect your personal information.

Fake Emails And Websites
Fraudulent Pop-ups
Viruses
Spyware
How you can protect your online security
How we protect your security online
How to report Online Fraud
Security Definitions

Fake Emails and Websites

Often called "Phishing", these fake emails or websites appear to represent a legitimate company and try to obtain confidential information with a view to conducting illegal transactions using your details. Please note that FBD will never send emails which require customers to send personal information via email or pop-up windows. Any unsolicited requests for FBD policy or personal details which you receive through pop-up windows, emails, or Web sites should be considered fraudulent and reported immediately.

Your email address can be obtained from publicly available sources or through randomly generated lists. Therefore, if you receive a fake email that appears to be from FBD, this does not mean that your email address, name, or any other information has been gathered from FBD’s systems.

How do I identify a Fake email?

Fake emails will often:

Ask you for personal information. Fake emails often contain an overly generic greeting and may claim that your information has expired, been corrupted or been lost, and that you must immediately resend it.
Appear to be from a legitimate source. While some emails are easy to identify as fraudulent, others may appear to be from a legitimate address and trusted online source. However, you should not rely on the name or address in the "From" field, as this is easily altered.
Link to counterfeit Web sites. Fake emails may direct you to counterfeit Web sites carefully designed to look real, but which actually collect personal information for illegal use.
Link to real Web sites. In addition to links to counterfeit Web sites, some fake emails also include links to legitimate Web sites. This is done in an attempt to make a fake email appear real.
Contain fraudulent phone numbers. Fake emails often contain telephone numbers that are linked to the fraudsters. Never call a number featured on an email you suspect is fraudulent, and be sure to double-check any numbers you do call.
Contain real phone numbers. Some of the telephone numbers listed in fake emails may be legitimate, connecting to actual companies. Just like with links, fraudsters include the real phone numbers in an effort to make the email appear legitimate.

Fraudulent Pop-ups

Pop-up windows are the small windows or ads that appear suddenly over or under the window you are currently viewing. Fraudulent pop-up windows are a type of online fraud often used to obtain personal information with a view to conducting illegal transactions with your details.

Please note that FBD does not use pop-up windows to request your policy or personal information. We will never display a pop-up window on our site that is not user initiated by you clicking on a link.

Pop-up windows are often the result of programs installed on your computer called "adware" or "spyware". These programs look in on your Web viewing activity and regularly come hidden inside many free downloads, such as music-sharing software or screen savers. Many of these programs enable harmless advertisements, but some contain "Trojan horse" programs that can record your keystrokes or relay other information to an unauthorized source.

Any unsolicited requests for FBD policy or personal information you receive through pop-up windows should be considered fraudulent and reported immediately.

Viruses

A computer virus is merely a program that attaches itself to another program or data file in order to spread and reproduce itself without the knowledge of the user.

The effects of these viruses can vary widely depending on what they were designed to do; some viruses are annoying but cause no significant damage; others can be quite harmful and can even erase data, corrupt disks or in the case of business computers, degrade system performance.

As viruses are designed to hide their presence in legitimate programs or data files, they are usually spread from computer to computer by individuals who are unaware they are doing so. The main methods by which viruses are generally transmitted include:

Attachments to e-mail messages
Files downloaded from the Internet
Using infected USB devices, disks or compact disks (CDs)

Common symptoms indicating that your computer may have a virus:

Applications that do not work properly
Disks cannot be accessed
Printing does not work correctly
Pull-down menus are distorted
File size changes for no apparent reason
Date of last access does not match date of last use
An increase in the number of files on the system when nothing has been added
Unusual disk drive activity
Unusual error messages
System slows down, freezes or crashes

Spyware

'Spyware' is software that is downloaded onto your hard disk, without your knowledge. Once there, it can collect information from your computer system and may transmit it elsewhere. It may also gather and transmit information about e-mail addresses, passwords and other personal information.

How to recognise Spyware:

You may have contracted spyware if the following symptoms occur:

Pop-up ads appear, even offline, often for 'adult' content sites
Your homepage/search settings unexpectedly change
Your browser toolbar changes and is hard to restore
System performance deteriorates unexpectedly

How to avoid Spyware:

Install a reliable anti-spyware application and ensure the application is kept up to date
Use a firewall
Adjust security settings on your browser to a sufficiently high level - the higher the security level, the lower the risk.
Be security conscious when surfing and downloading
Only download from sites you trust
Read security information before you download software
Never click "Agree" or "OK" to an unexpected pop-up or window. Instead, close the window by clicking on the "x" button on the top right hand corner of the window

What to do if you think you have Spyware:

Install and run anti-spyware software to remove any spyware from your system
Keep it updated and use it to perform regular checks on your computer system
Check whether or not your Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers anti-spyware software

How you can protect your online security

FBD is continuously working to ensure the security of your online interactions with us. With your help we can reduce the risk posed by online fraudulent activity. Below is a list of some simple steps to take to protect your personal information.

Always log-out of your browser after you use FBD.ie.
Do not share passwords of any type with anyone. Remember that you alone are accountable for actions carried out when your user identification is used.
Ensure that the operating system and other software on your PC are fit for purpose and are configured appropriately.
Ensure that the operating system and other software, especially your browser, are regularly updated with relevant security patches and bug-fixes (available frequently from the vendor sites). Subscribe to your vendors’ security mailing lists and apply updates as appropriate to your operating system.
Ensure that you have up-to-date, supported and licensed anti-virus software in place.
Consider activating a pop-up blocker. Some browsers incorporate this functionality by default.
Consider using a personal firewall.
Do not open unsolicited e-mail and in particular, any attachments that are associated with this form of communication. Be sure of your sender.
Do not send confidential information via Internet e-mail unless appropriately secured.
Always check the validity of the certificate on a website where you enter personal details
Be wary of the content of unsolicited e-mails appearing to come from a trusted source asking you to validate your logon / payment credentials.
If in doubt please email us at info@fbd.ie

How we protect your security online

FBD systems are protected by a firewall, which forms a barrier between the Internet and our internal network.
After a 30 minute period of inactivity, your current session on the web site will automatically timeout.

How to report Online Fraud

Step 1: Contact FBD immediately

If you receive a fraudulent email, pop-up or web page - email us immediately at info@fbd.ie. Do not reply or follow any of the specified instructions, regardless of how genuine they may appear.

Security Definitions

Secure Browser

A secure browser means you can send and receive messages using technology which encrypts the information so it is virtually impossible for anyone other than you and FBD to read it. Use an Internet browser that has SSL encryption version 3.0 or higher to conduct secure transactions over the Internet. Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are all examples of browsers that employ Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to communicate with appropriately configured servers.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

SSL is a secure communication protocol that encrypts information while it is transmitted over the Internet to prevent the information being intercepted or modified. SSL authenticates that the server you have connected to is the one it purports to be. We use what is known as 128 bit SSL to ensure the highest level of security of information passing between our customers and ourselves. You can be assured that you are actually communicating with FBD, and not a third party trying to intercept the transaction.

Firewall

The purpose of a firewall is to ensure only FBD’s traffic is allowed to pass to FBD’s systems and networks - all other traffic from the Internet is rejected. The firewall verifies the source and destination of each message, and determines whether or not to let the message through. Access is denied if the message is not directed at a specific service.

Browser Encryption

Internet communications are not secure unless the data is encrypted. This allows for the transfer of digitally signed certificates for authentication procedures and provides message integrity, so that information cannot be tampered with in transit.

Check the web address that you have accessed. If you are in a secure area, the address will appear as https://www. Notice the "s" in the address. This means that you have accessed a secure server.

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