Frequently Asked Questions about Online Security
Hawthorne Credit Union uses a number of security strategies throughout the credit union to ensure that our members are protected from unauthorized activity on their accounts. Following is a list of the most frequently asked questions regarding security strategies that we use to protect your private information online.
How secure is your online banking?
You can rest assured that our network is secure. The network structure that is used to provide our online banking service is very complex. Although the structure would be very difficult to explain, it is important to mention that the actual personal banking information that you are obtaining is not on the Internet. The requests that are made through the Internet are handled on our individual servers. The server then retrieves the information that was requested from the mainframe through a firewall. Your password and user name are sent in a secure manor, because the form declares the receiver URL to be of type https:// (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Security). When you click “submit” to enter online banking, your information is sent securely.
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How do I know your site is secure?
Our website is protected by advanced encryption technology. You can verify the security of our site by clicking on the round Verisign icon at the far bottom right corner of our website.
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Online banking will “timeout” after ten minutes of inactivity, as another security element our online banking. This prevents people from viewing your account information if you have left your computer unattended without logging out of your online banking session. However, even with this security feature, we recommend that you always log out when you have completed your online banking.
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What if someone tries to figure out my password?
If a password is entered incorrectly three times, access to online banking will be locked and you will need to contact our member services department to gain access to your account. Bad login attempts and suspicious account activities are monitored to prevent someone from trying to guess a password to obtain access to your account. If we notice unusual activity, we will contact our member to verify the activity and help avoid future problems.
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What are “spoofer” sites, and how can I avoid them?
Unscrupulous people can set up “spoofer” sites that look just like ours to gain access to your account number and password. By book marking our site, you’re assured to be visiting our site. In addition, we recommend that you “bookmark” our website, www.eHawthorne.org, to avoid “spoofer sites”.
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We ask identifying questions to ensure that we are speaking to you, and that we do not give account information to someone who is not an owner on your account. We suggest that you never give your password to anyone who is not an owner on your account.
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What’s the best way to choose a password?
We recommend that our members never use passwords that would be easy for someone to guess. Examples of bad passwords are, birth dates, your child’s name, pet names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, etc. We also suggest that you periodically change your password and select one that has a combination of letters and numbers, and varied in length.
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If you have any questions regarding our extensive Online Banking security please email memberservices@ehawthorne.org or call 630-369-4070 800-848-1697 (outside IL). If you would like more information about protecting yourself from identity theft, visit our website at www.eHawthorne.org. Also, keeping us up to date with your current address and phone number is important so that we can reach you if we suspect any fraudulent or unauthorized activity.
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A note about links on our web site.
Our site contains links to the web sites of other organizations that we feel may provide helpful information for you. Because we do not represent these organizations, or have control over the content of their sites, Hawthorne cannot be responsible for the content on these sites. Please check with the organizations representing these sites to inquire about their privacy policies and security practices, as they may be different from ours.
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If you have further questions about our online security, please email us or call 630-369-4070 (outside Illinois at 800-848-1697).
