The security of your data is of prime importance to us at Citibank® Canada. In order to safe guard your personal data, all online forms on the Citibank Canada web site reside on a secure server. By inputting information into secure online forms, only the intended party is allowed to translate the encoded information. All current Internet browsers have secure forms built right in, which you can tell by either a padlock symbol on the screen or a change in the address line from "http" to "https". Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.5 (and later versions) and Netscape® Navigator 6 (and later versions) both support 128-bit encryption as standard.
A secure server is the software used to navigate the Internet and has been created to encrypt, or scramble, all information until the authorized recipient can unscramble it. Information is scrambled by a mathematical formula using 128-bit encryption - the highest level generally available today. The recipient must then use a decoder to convert this into intelligible information. Currently, most web browsers have this encryption capability built right in, or it can be downloaded directly from the Internet.
Your connection to Citibank Online and Citi™ Cards Online is secured through the use of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security protocol that is supported by all current Internet browsers without the need for any additional software.
Encryption is the process of altering information (data) in such a way that only the intended receiver can understand what was sent.
Secure Sockets Layer is an Internet standard encryption protocol that is embedded into web servers and browsers without the need for additional software.
Each 'bit' of encryption represents a binary digit (either 0 or 1). Using 40-bit encryption a 'key' can generated that is 40 digits long, which means that there are over 1 billion different keys that could be used to encrypt the information. However, 128-bit keys are 128 digits long, giving 340 billion trillion different keys.
To put it another way, a 40-bit key can be broken in only a few hours, while it is estimated that a 128-bit key would take more than the age of the universe to break under the same attack.
The latest releases of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator both include 128-bit encryption as standard.
To determine if your browser supports 128-bit encryption, click on "Help" in the toolbar of your Internet browser and click on "About [browser name]". A pop-up box or window will display. For Internet Explorer, next to "Cipher strength", you should see "128-bit". For Netscape, the following text should appear: "This version supports high-grade (128-bit) security with RSA Public Key Cryptography".
If your browser does not support 128-bit encryption, you will need to upgrade to a browser that does in order to access secure pages of this web site.
If you want to upgrade your version of Microsoft Internet Explorer click here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx.
If you want to upgrade your version of Mozilla Firefox click here: http://www.mozilla.com
If you want to upgrade your version of Apple Safari click here: http://www.apple.com/safari/download
If you want to upgrade your version of Google Chrome click here: http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/p/google.html