Security and Privacy

Online Security

Quick Reference

For assistance with

Technical Support

0800 389 2324 – Available 07.45 – 21.00 Monday to Friday

Suspicious emails

Please forward any mails to: phishing@santander.co.uk

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON INTERNET FRAUD

> Email scams and fake websites
> Keeping your online trading secure

Email scams and fake websites

1. Abbey Sharedealing will never send you an email asking you to confirm security questions or update your information. Abbey Sharedealing will NEVER send you an email asking you to enter your Sharedealing Login details. When you want to access Abbey Sharedealing secure trading area, always type www.santander.co.uk/sharedealing into the address bar of your browser. Never click on links or pictures in emails, and avoid setting www.santander.co.uk/sharedealing as a favourite in your browser.

2. When you receive such an email, this is an attempted fraud. This is known as PHISHING.
   If you have received a scam email, DO NOT click on any links or pictures, or open any attachments. Instead, please forward it to phishing@santander.co.uk and help us reduce online fraud. We cannot guarantee a response to each email, but we will investigate every report.

 

Keeping your Online Trading Secure

1. Your own Computer Security
   Always install the latest and most up to date security tools – including Anti-Virus software, and Anti-Spyware/Adware software – and use a personal firewall. Always use appropriate security tools for your computer, and keep them up to date. Remember, if a new virus is written there is less chance that older Security packages will be able to detect it. For more information, consult your Internet Service Provider, or Operating System manufacturers like Microsoft or Apple.
   
   Always ensure your Operating System is secure – for the most up to date ‘patches’ in Windows, use the Microsoft Windows Product Updates (Opens in a new window) site. For Microsoft Office products such as Word and Excel, go to Office Update. Apple users will need to go to Apple support. Criminals can use vulnerabilities in software to obtain your information, so make sure you have the latest security updates for your particular computer. You can set your computer to update automatically, so get more information on this from your provider.
   
   Always try to avoid using Public Access Terminals such as at Internet Cafés for your online trading. You cannot be sure of the level of security on the machine you are using – it may not be secure. Remember, you have no control over what is on someone else's machine; any information you enter on a website may be stored on the machine you use, even after you log off.
   
   Always ensure your home network/connection is secure. If you connect using a wireless broadband network, contact your service provider for information on ensuring your network is secure.

2. Your Personal Details
   Always keep your logon credentials secure, and never write them down.
   
   Never tell anyone what your logon credentials are. You must also never tell an Abbey Sharedealing employee. We might ask you to confirm certain digits from your password to identify yourself when you contact us, but we will never ask you to tell us the entire password. When we do give you a new online password, you will be prompted to change it when you log in.
   
   Never send account details or personal details by email, because there is a risk it could be intercepted on the way.

3. Using the Internet
   Always make sure you log off our secure site successfully when you have finished. Close down your Internet browser once you've logged off. Simply disconnecting from the internet itself isn't enough.
   
   Never leave the computer alone while you are logged in to the secure Sharedealing service – for your added protection, if you have been inactive after 20 minutes online with us, we’ll automatically log you off.
   
   Always access the Abbey Sharedealing service by typing in the exact web address (www.santander.co.uk/sharedealing).
   
   Never enter the site via an email or internet page link and disclose your login details. This applies to any computer that you use.
   
   Whenever you are asked for personal or security details, make sure it is a secure site: the address bar will start with https://, and if you're using Internet Explorer there will be a Padlock Symbol in the bottom right of the window. Further information about the website can be obtained by double-clicking on the Padlock – this will display the SSL certificate, which shows who owns the certificate and if it is valid. Different browsers employ different means of highlighting Secure Sites.

Protecting you with technology

The information on our website is split into two types of area: 'freely accessible' areas and 'secure' areas. We don't mind who visits the freely accessible areas, and we don't check on who does. None of your personal information is kept there, just general information about our products and services that anyone can have access to.

Your Security Details

The secure areas are where we do keep all that personal information, which is why you have to enter a personal password and security PIN before we can give you access.

You can identify secure areas by looking at the address in the top of your browser. An encrypted area's address will begin https:// rather than the usual http://, and you can also tell this by the Padlock Symbol in the bottom right hand corner of your web browser.

On top of this, any information you submit online is protected by data encryption. Your browser scrambles the information, and is later unscrambled when it gets to us. It cannot be read along the way.

You may come across the term 128-bit SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology. This is the way the data is scrambled and unscrambled again at each end. The latest browsers have this built in – and it is automatically enabled unless you turn it off.

To prevent problems viewing secure sites like ours, it's always a good idea to have the latest version of your browser installed.

Changing your Security Details

When you activate your account online for the first time, we ask you to set an online password and you will be generated a 6 digit PIN. You can change your Password and PIN at any time by using the Change your details section of the site. When changing your password, use words and numbers you can easily remember, such as a place or name that you know, but make sure it’s only memorable to you. Your 6 digit PIN will always be securely generated at random.

To Log in you must have:

• A personal password containing a mix of upper and lowercase letters, a number and at least one symbol. The password is case sensitive and must be between 8 and 16 characters long.

• An online PIN which will be generated when you activate the account.

To make your security details harder to guess, follow these rules:

• You mustn't choose a code that includes repeated characters (e.g. 1111aaaa).
• You mustn't include sequential characters (e.g. 987654321).

If someone finds out your codes

If you think someone may know your password or PIN you should change them immediately, and notify us at once by phoning 0800 389 2324.

Our website’s secure areas

We only request and display personal information about you and your accounts and dealings from secure areas of our site.

In addition, these services are protected by 'firewalls'. This technology monitors and prevents any unauthorised access to our computer systems (where personal data is kept) – which means unauthorised people cannot access account and personal details.

Data Protection

We're committed to keeping your personal information safe and confidential both online and offline.

We might occasionally send you information about accounts and services which we think would be of interest to you. If you’d prefer us not to use your contact details in this way you can tell us.

For more information please see our data protection statement in the literature section.

 

Contacting us by phone

You can call our customer services team on 0800 389 2324. To help us improve our service our calls are recorded.

Contacting us by email

When you email us, we collect some personal details like your name, address and phone numbers. Email isn't 100% secure – so we advise that you keep personal information to a minimum. With this in mind, don't transmit account information using email.

Emails are stored on our standard internal contact systems which are secure and can't be accessed by external parties. We store this information for an indefinite period of time in order to identify trends.

Surveys and competitions

We will treat any survey or competition information you provide with the same high standard of care as we do all other customer information, using any details provided strictly within the terms of the competition and this Privacy Statement.

Sharedealing

Within Abbey Sharedealing you can research information on UK listed companies and AIM shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. You make your searches anonymously, and we're not able to identify you as an individual from your research. Please note: our online Sharedealing service is provided by Abbey Stockbrokers Limited ("ASL"). ASL is part of the Santander group of companies.

Cookies

We use independent companies to measure and analyse how people use the 'freely accessible' areas of the Abbey Sharedealing website. They use cookies to gather and collate information such as the number of pages viewed on the site, the number of visitors and common ways of arriving at or leaving the site. Doing this enables us to keep our content and navigation fresh and useful.

We don't and won't link any information collected by these outside agencies with any personal information collected about you on the website.

What’s in a cookie?

A cookie is a small file that can be saved onto your computer when you visit a website. We use them to monitor visits to areas of our website. Abbey Sharedealing’s site-tracking cookies do not contain name or address information, but they do contain:

• A uniquely generated random number – so that we differentiate one visitor from another.
• The date and time of your last visit to the website.

We use two main types of cookie:

• Permanent cookies: These are stored on your computer to track repeat visits and where you’ve been on the site.
• Temporary cookies: These are used to make sure that services like sharedealing work properly. When you close your browser down they are deleted from your computer.

Your web browser will normally allow you to turn off both permanent and temporary cookies. However, if you do disable cookies you may not be able to use some of the services on this website.

Correcting mistakes

You are entitled to ask for details of information held about you, and if you find that it’s inaccurate you can have the information corrected and/or deleted.

To find out more visit the website of the Information Commissioner at: www.ico.gov.uk (Opens in a new window)

Using your personal information

We will tell you if we intend to use your information for marketing purposes, and we’ll give you the opportunity to opt out if you want to.

If you currently receive emails but do not wish to in future, please use this email address to let us remove you from our list: Sharedealing@santander.co.uk

Legal statement about this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement is not designed to form a legally binding contract between Abbey Sharedealing and users of our website or online services. Instead it's a guide to our online protection standards – although of course we do consider it of utmost importance to abide by the principles stated here.

Contacting us about our Privacy Statement

If you think this Privacy Statement hasn't answered all your questions, or you want to know more, please contact our customer services team, who will be more than willing to help you.

Links to other websites

Certain hypertext links in this website may lead you to websites which are not under the control of Abbey Sharedealing. When you activate these, you may leave the Abbey Sharedealing website. These links are provided solely for your convenience, and do not represent any endorsement or recommendation by Abbey Sharedealing or Santander UK plc.

Santander UK plc accepts no responsibility or liability for the contents of any website to which a hypertext link exists and gives no representation or warranty as to the information on such websites. Santander UK plc accepts no responsibility or liability for any loss arising from any contract entered into with any website to which a hypertext link exists.

No liability for unavailability

Santander UK plc accepts no liability for any loss that may arise if the goods or services advertised within this website become unavailable.

Customer responsibility

It is your responsibility to ensure that your computer is virus protected. Abbey Sharedealing and Santander UK plc accept no responsibility for any loss you may suffer as a result of accessing and downloading information from this site.