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Online Banking Security Statement

First State Bank's Online Banking not only meets, but exceeds industry standards using the latest security technologies to protect your private finiancial information. It features password control, a VeriSign Digital ID on the bank's server and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for data encryption.

User Authenticity Verification
Before access to your account information is granted , you must first enter the correct Login ID and password for the account. First State Bank's Online Banking system uses a "three strikes and you're out" policy, meaning that after three unsuccessful login attempts, you are locked out of your account. If your account has been locked, you must either wait ten minutes before attempting to login again, or contact the bank to have your account unlocked. This disabling of Online Banking access prevents malicious individuals from attempting to guess your password and also prevents the use of "crack" programs (computer programs that run through letter/number/special character combinations eliminating the invalid ones until they arrive at a match).

Secure Data Transfer
Once you have successfully logged in, the Digital ID from VeriSign authenticates your identity and establishes a secure Online Banking session. The establishement of a session in this manner ensures that all communication between your computer and the bank's server takes place in a secured environment. Data traveling between the your computer and the bank's server is encrypted with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. SSL essentially establishes a new encryption code for every session. Only your computer and the bank's server have the ability to decrypt, and therefore to understand, this code. A unique code is created for each session and is destroyed once the session is ended.

Two-Factor Authentication
By the end of the year, First State Bank's Online Banking system will incorporate two-factor authentication into the login process.

Authentication, when used in this context, means the verification of the identity of a user. When using the Internet banking system, you are “authenticated” when you log in. You first tell the system who you are by entering your login ID and then you verify your identity by entering your password. Proving your identity to the system in this manner is known as one-factor authentication, meaning that you are using only one factor, your password, to verify to the system that you are who you say you are.

There are three possible “factors” that can be used to verify your identity; something you know (a password), something you have (an ATM card) or something you are (your fingerprint). Most financial transactions conducted using means other than the Internet require you to provide at least two of these three factors. For instance, when you visit an ATM, you are required to present your ATM card (something you have) and to enter your PIN (something you know) before you can access your account(s). Using something you have (ATM card) and something you know (PIN number) is referred to as two factor authentication.

First State Bank's Online Banking system will implement a form of two-factor authentication which will use your computer as the second factor of authentication (your computer is something that you have).