Security
Your banking security is important to us
At Aldermore we're committed to keeping your banking experience as secure as possible. Here you'll find some useful advice to help protect you against common threats and explain what Aldermore does to protect you.
What can I do?
Identity Theft
Identity theft is the unauthorised use of another person's name,
address, date of birth, credit card or account number, National
Insurance number, utility bills and other such personal
information.
Identity thieves often charge purchases to victims' accounts and may also open new accounts under their victims' names. Some thieves obtain official identification, such as passports or driving licenses or obtain benefits in victims' names. In severe cases, identity thieves may also commit other crimes under their victims' identities, leading to serious legal problems for victims.
There is some good advice for both consumers and businesses on the Identity Theft website on keeping your personal data and documents safe as well as how to protect the identity of relatives who have passed away.
Common Scams
The majority of fraudulent activity is based around the premise of
gaining your trust so you reveal your personal information.
Online scams include being the recipient of a lottery win, without taking part, or being asked by email to facilitate the movement of large amounts of money between two separate accounts and being paid a percentage of the total for doing so. Telephone scams can be variations of these sort of scams.
This is some good advice on the Bank Safe Online website on how to use online banking services securely and with confidence as well as the latest advice on common fraudulent scams.
Steps you can take to protect yourself
To help prevent against becoming a victim of identity theft or
fraud you can follow these tips to ensure that you manage your
personal information safely:
- Never disclose passwords or login credentials in response to unsolicited emails.
- Only divulge account details in a phone transaction when you have instigated the call and are familiar with the vendor.
- Ensure that your PC has up to date anti-virus software with a firewall.
- Use websites that use the HTTPS protocol and displays a padlock to make secure purchases and transactions.
- Never cut and paste or click on a link within an email. Instead manually type the address into the browser. Pasting a URL into a browser is not considered good practice. A URL can be created to look like a genuine link, but could have been crafted to take the user to a malicious site. This is especially true when you can't see the full URL address.
- Think about shredding (preferably cross shredding) old bank statements and utility bills etc. so that they cannot be recovered and read.
- Take a moment to read through the recommended websites below
for more guidance and advice:
-
http://identitytheft.org.uk/
- http://www.financialfraudaction.org.uk/
- http://actionfraud.org.uk/
- http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/
There is some good advice on the Get Safe Online website for both consumers and businesses on protecting yourself and your computer when using the internet.
How Aldermore protects you
Core to how we operate is the effective management of risk in order to protect our savers, borrowers, shareholders and to ensure we have adequate funds at all times. You can find out more about how we manage this in our latest Pillar 3 Disclosures report. Aldermore also subscribes to National Hunter and CIFAS fraud prevention agencies.
Savings Customers
We take your security very seriously - which is why we use the latest technology to ensure your details stay safe.
Encryption technology
We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol with 128-bit encryption.
This scrambles any information passed between us and you so it
can't be read or understood by anyone else.
Because we use 128 bit encryption, your browser must as minimum also support 128 bit encryption. You can check what level of encryption your browser supports by following the instructions below for your browser:
- Internet Explorer; Open the browser, go to the help
button, on the menu scroll down and click on "about". The splash
screen will tell you of the Cipher (encryption) level supported by
your version of Internet explorer. It will also tell you the
version number.
- Internet Explorer (Mac); Select the Apple menu at the top
of the screen. From the drop down menu, select the About Internet
Explorer; it will display the Cipher (encryption) level and version
number.
- Mozilla Firefox; All versions of Firefox support 128 bit
encryption.
- The Safari browser displays a lock icon at the top right
corner of the browser window when you're viewing a secure
(https://) site. This symbol is absent when viewing an unsecured
(http://) site. Safari can use both 40-bit and 128-bit strong
encryption; the web site you are browsing determines which level of
encryption is used at a given time.
Look out for the padlock symbol or key that appears in your web browser: this shows your session is secure. The web address will also begin https:// rather than http:// which does not use any form of encryption.
We only use online security certificates issued by GlobalSign, so you can verify our website is genuine. A valid security certificate is a way of verifying the identity of a person or resource on the Internet.
Firewall protection
We use firewalls to restrict access to our systems. We also make
routine checks to make sure your information is protected from
unauthorised access.
Secure login
Your account can only be accessed by entering your unique User ID,
password and selected characters from your memorable data.
Forgotten your login details? Just follow the link on the Login
page.
System time-out
If you leave your screen inactive for more than 20
minutes, you'll be automatically logged out of
your account. It's best to log off whenever you leave your computer
but this automatic time-out gives you added protection.
Last login date and time
Whenever you log in to your account, you'll be able to see the
date and time that you last logged in. If it's showing a different
date and time to your last login, contact us immediately
on 0845 604 2678, particularly if you think your account has
been accessed by anyone other than yourself.
Business Finance customers
(Asset Finance, Commercial Mortgages, Structured Finance and
Invoice Finance)
All online transactions are secured using a verified and signed digital certificate using SSL and encrypted web traffic using HTTPS and our web servers are located in a secure data centre.
We take your security very seriously - which is why we use the latest technology to ensure your details stay safe.
Encryption technology
We use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol with 256-bit encryption.
This scrambles any information passed between us and you so it
can't be read or understood by anyone else.
Because we use 256 bit encryption, your browser must as minimum also support 256 bit encryption.
Look out for the padlock symbol or key that appears in your web browser: this shows your session is secure. The web address will also begin https:// rather than http:// which does not use any form of encryption.
We only use online security certificates issued by GlobalSign, so you can verify our website is genuine. A valid security certificate is a way of verifying the identity of a person or resource on the Internet.
Firewall protection
We use firewalls to restrict access to our systems. We also make
routine checks to make sure your information is protected from
unauthorised access.
Secure login
Your account can only be accessed by entering your unique user
name, 3 random characters from password and answering one random
security question. Forgotten your login details? Just follow the
link on the Login page.
System time-out
If you leave your screen inactive for more than five
minutes, you'll be automatically logged out of
your account. It's best to log off whenever you leave your computer
but this automatic time-out gives you added protection.
Last login date and time
Whenever you log in to your account, you'll be able to see the
date and time that you last logged in. If it's showing a different
date and time to your last login, contact us immediately
on 01733 821 321, particularly if you think your account has
been accessed by anyone other than yourself.
Residential Mortgages customers
All online transactions are secured using a verified and signed
digital certificate using SSL and encrypted web traffic using HTTPS
and our web servers are located in a secure data centre.
Report a Problem
Reporting any suspicious activity is the first action you should take. Here's how you can do it:
Savings customers
Noticed suspicious activity in your account?
Have you noticed any suspicious activity in your Aldermore savings account? Contact us immediately if you think your account has been accessed by anyone other than yourself.
Personal Savings: 0845 604 2678 (opening hours)
Business Savings: 01733 821 321 (opening hours)
Suspicious email?
If you receive an email or fax asking for any personal or security information please don't reply as it is likely to be fraudulent. Please don't click on any links or open any attachments. Instead, forward it to financial.crime@aldermore.co.uk and then delete it. This information will be used to help reduce fraud.
Business Finance customers
If you have noticed any suspicious activity in your Invoice Finance account, please don't hesitate to contact your Client Manager. Please ensure you keep the security details you use to access our client portal safe. If you have forgotten your security details contact your Client Manager.