Online Security
How We Protect Your Money
Your Online Banking Accounts with Sterling Bank & Trust are Password Protected
Three strikes and you're Out! Sterling Bank & Trust does not give unauthorized individuals the opportunity to enter random passwords and account information. If any password is entered incorrectly three consecutive times, account access will be blocked or locked out. This feature is a security item that helps protect the system, the bank and your data. The account can be reactivated by the authorized user by contacting Sterling Customer Service Center and answering a few validation questions that only the authentic customer would know.
Protect your password! When changing your password, we can't emphasize enough the importance of picking a good, secure password. It should be a password that is not easily guessed by another person. It's very important to keep this password in a safe place and to change it frequently. Choose a password that is 8-30 characters long, with as many different characters as possible and at least one numeric and one alpha character. Stay away from using personal information such as your name, social security number, birth date, phone number, or spouse's name. Don't use passwords that are easily recognized while you are typing. Most importantly, change your password frequently.
Don't forget to log out! If you forget to log off after an online banking session, it could compromise the security of your account. Sterling Bank & Trust will automatically log you off after 60 minutes (whether activity is occurring or not), but go ahead and log off as an added security measure.
Firewalls, the Internet, Log files
Sterling Bank & Trust also protects financial transactions through barriers such as an Internet firewall and filtering routers that prevent unauthorized access. Each presents an additional barrier between the Internet and the internal bank network.
Filtering routers are used to verify the source and destination of each information packet sent to the bank, and filters out all packets not addressed to specific network services. The filtering router verifies the source and destination of each Internet packet, and determines whether or not to let the packet through. Access is denied if the packet is not directed at a specific, available service. Also, filtering routers prevents many common Internet attacks.
Sterling's firewall is monitored by one of the market's leading firewall providers 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This internet firewall is a combination of hardware and software designed to securely separate the Internet from our internal computer systems and databases. Only Sterling Bank & Trust traffic is allowed to pass through the firewall - all other traffic from the Internet is rejected. All Internet data flows through a series of safety check points on its way to and from our internal systems so that only authorized messages and transactions enter our computing environment. Firewalls work in a similar way, examining each packet of information that is sent across the Internet to the customer service network. The purpose of the firewall is to protect the bank's internal network from outside observation.
System and application activity logs are another mechanism Sterling Bank & Trust uses to protect our systems and your information. These logs are reviewed regularly and any anomalies or discrepancies are investigated thoroughly.
