Account Security

When it comes to security, no one takes it more seriously than marbles.

We’re always monitoring and enhancing the security of our systems to ensure that we’re one step ahead of fraudsters. There are lots of additional ways in which the security of your marbles account is enhanced and below you’ll find answer to some typical questions that we hope provides you with the reassurance you require.

Where is the best place to connect to marbles on-line?

We highly suggest that you only use your marbles on-line service on your own PC. We do not recommend that you use the marbles on-line service when at a Cyber Cafe, library or shared PC. This ensures that no strangers are looking over your shoulder or watching you on close circuit TV.

Can more than one person use the same PC and still keep their details confidential?

Several people can access the marbles on-line service from the same PC, but not at the same time. Each user is given their own unique set of Internet ID's and we ensure that all your security details are kept separate. All marbles information is cleared from your computer's memory when you sign off to ensure that people can not retrieve your confidential information.

Can the additional cardholder on my marbles card look at my account?

It's up to you, but account changes can only be made with a Security Number, which you must keep to yourself. We will issue you with a Password. You can choose to share it with your additional cardholder if you wish.

Could someone get hold of my Internet ID, Password, or Security Number?

We send your Internet ID to you separately from your Password. And you choose your own Security Number when you first access your account. So no one other than you should know your security details.

Your computer won't have to store the important bits of security information, like your Password and Security Number. Okay, the bad news is you'll have to enter your Password each time you log in. But the good news is that no one else will be able to get to your account simply by using your PC.

If you suspect someone has got hold of these, you should always change them by visiting the web site. Whenever you tap in your Password or Security Number they will appear as a row of *'s, so anyone who's looking over your shoulder is going to be sorely disappointed.

How will my account details be kept safe and secure?

Our system uses many layers of security including a Password and Security Number. We also use the latest encryption technology, which scrambles data to ensure that private details remain secure. An encryption key is randomly created for each Internet Banking session.

Will hackers be able to get at my details?

Your private account information is stored on a computer that's secured both physically and electronically. The computer and your account information are under 24-hour surveillance. It's protected electronically by what's called a firewall. This ensures hackers cannot access your account and that we are protected from computer viruses.

What about eavesdroppers?

This part gets a bit technical. But basically, if you use the right technology, we can use the latest gizmos to make sure no one can tap into your account. When you take out a marbles account, we ask you to have Internet Explorer or Netscape version 4.0, or above. That's because, if you do, we can make everything as secure as possible. The software will let us use something called a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) between your computer and ours. Don't worry if you're not sure what browser version you've got - we'll work this out for you when you visit us and let you know how to upgrade it if you need to. There's three ways SSL stops people eavesdropping:

1) It prevents impersonation - SSL makes sure that you're connected to the real thing, not to somebody trying to impersonate us. You can tell if you're in an SSL site because there'll be a padlock or a key in the bar at the bottom of your browser. Click on it to see our Registration Certificate. The Certificate is issued by Verisign, a company who are experts in Internet security.

2) Data encryption - Once your computer has recognised our computer, they get together to make a secret key. This lets them swap info in coded form. Each time you visit the web site a different key is used. No hackers will be able to understand what's going on if they intercept anything. Data encryption may sound fearsome, but actually it's a good thing.

3) No scrambling - SSL uses what's called a Message Authentication Code (MAC) to stop anyone messing about with the marbles website. Your computer will always check the code before it takes a message from us. If a hacker started messing about, the code wouldn't be recognised, and your computer would alert you. With this kind of security, the chances of someone scrambling a message and then guessing the correct code are about 1 in 340, 282, 366, 920, 939, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000. They're a thousand million times more likely to win the lottery!

Should I sign up for an account aggregation service?

Account aggregation is an internet-based service that allows consumers to view their financial information from multiple products, across multiple financial institutions, on a single web site. marbles have serious concerns about the privacy and security of financial data when customers pass their security details onto an aggregation service. Consequently, we do not recommend that customers currently use these services.

What if I forgot to log off my account?

If you don't use your account for 5 minutes, marbles will automatically log you off, resulting in you being returned to our login screen. Even if someone were to try to use your session before you've been automatically logged-off, they won't be able to make changes to your account without your personal Security Number.