Our sharedealing site uses the very latest technology to protect your data. All information exchanged between you and us within our sharedealing site is encrypted using highly secure 128-bit encryption. You know this because the web site address begins "https://" and a closed padlock symbol is displayed in, or next to, the web site address bar. Customers using older browsers (e.g. Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6) will see the padlock displayed in the lower right hand corner of the browser.
For your added confidence, we use a special type of security certificate - known as Extended Validation SSL Certificates - on our secure sites. In newer browsers (e.g. Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7 or 8 or Mozilla Firefox® 3 or above), as well as seeing the "https://" and the closed padlock symbol, the address bar will turn green (for Google Chrome 6 or above the address bar will turn yellow) and display the name of the certificate owner - first direct Bank (HSBC Holdings Plc) in Internet Banking - and the certificate issuing party. This display helps you to identify genuine first direct content and makes it harder for a potential fraudster to make a credible copy of our web site. If you are using Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 or other older browsers, you will just see the "https://" and the closed padlock symbol.
In addition, our sharedealing site is protected using firewalls, which are special combinations of software and computers designed to prevent any unauthorised access to your account details via the internet.