CYBER SECURITY
YOUR DATA IS OUR PRIORITY
National Counties Building Society is proud to have received Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
We place your security at the very heart of our business. Our core business philosophy is to ensure that we look after our customers – be that your savings or mortgage, or indeed, both. The security of your data and the protection of funds from fraud is of paramount importance to us.
In view of the recent cyber security issues reported in the mainstream press, we thought it worth setting out what measures the Society takes to ensure the security of your data as well as highlighting what you can do to ensure that your personal data always remains secure.
What we do to protect your data
- We use the most up to date firewall security and regularly upgrade our systems and software controls
- We employ external security auditors to robustly test our systems and controls
- We will only act on change requests to your account after we have received clear evidence to prove that you are indeed the actual customer
- We monitor for abnormal transactional activity and will contact you if we have any suspicion of unusual behaviour.
Please note. As a further level of protection, you will be reimbursed for an unauthorised withdrawal. This protection is subject to our ‘General conditions for our savings accounts’ and you can find these by clicking here. Users of our online service are also protected from unauthorised transactions. You can view the ‘Online Service Agreement’ by clicking here.
We feel it’s imperative that everyone protects themselves from being vulnerable to such attacks.
What you need to do to help ensure your data remains YOUR data
There are a number of things that you can do to help protect yourself.
Websites:
Carefully check the website address you are using to make sure they are genuine - looking for subtle differences, especially if you clicked through to it from a potentially suspicious email.
You should never give out your account details or other personal details unless you are certain of who you are dealing with.
Keeping your browser up to date:
In order to benefit from the latest security features that Google and Microsoft introduce as a matter of course, it is important that your web browser is up to date. We’ve created a page on our website that provides full instructions on how to check and upgrade your browser which you can view here.
Emails:
Be wary of emails that don’t include your proper name or contain spelling mistakes and poor grammar. If you’re unsure about the validity of an email, please contact the company from where it’s supposed to have originated. Don’t use the contact details or click on any links on an email you suspect is suspicious. If you receive an email from the Society that you are suspicious about forward the email to besecure@ncbs.co.uk.
Telephone calls and text messages:
If you’re unsure about a call you receive from any financial organisation, call them back but from another phone line such as a mobile or landline. We would recommend waiting about five minutes before doing so as sometimes the fraudster on the other end doesn’t hang up so when you make another call, they’re still on the line.
If you have been contacted and are suspicious or feel vulnerable, don’t be afraid to terminate the call and decline all requests for your information.
You should also be wary of text messages to your mobile phone that may be from scammers pretending to be from financial services organisations asking for your account details or other personal details.
It’s worth regularly checking your bank account and any credit card statements to ensure all transactions are authorised by you.
Please bear in mind that authorised firms that you have no relationship with are highly unlikely to contact you. For more information from the Financial Conduct Authority on banking and online scams, please click here.
You also may find the following links useful:
Finally I would like to assure you that we take all issues relating to our data extremely seriously and aim to ensure the highest possible levels of security are adhered to while maintaining the highest possible levels of customer service.