Take Control of Your Safety
At Scottrade, we take security seriously and use a variety of measures to protect your personal information and accounts. We keep all customer information confidential and maintain strict physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect against unauthorized access to your information.
Scottrade is committed to constantly updating its practices to stay ahead of identity thieves. Using VeriSign Identity Protection Fraud Detection Service, for example, Scottrade automatically checks your account for signs of activity from a foreign computer.
10 Ways to Protect Yourself
Protecting your identity is ultimately within your control. Here’s a security checklist to guard your information online:
- Use Safe Online Habits
Take time to learn about identity theft to reduce the risk your personal information can be stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes.
- Install Security Software
New Scottrade customers receive integrated anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware protection through complimentary one-year subscriptions to McAfee AntiVirus Plus.
- Understand Phishing & Pharming
Phishing is a scheme to collect personal information via e-mail or pop-ups that seem legitimate. Pharming is a hacker's attempt to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus website.
- Create a Safe, Hard-to-Guess Password
Don’t write down or share your password. It should be difficult to guess, mixing capital and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Change it periodically.
- Keep Your Operating System and Browser Updated
Regularly download security updates and patches for your personal computer. Keep your Internet browser up-to-date to utilize the most current security technologies.
- Review Your Financial History Regularly
Monitor statement and transaction history as well as your credit report for all financial accounts regularly. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized activity.
- Protect Your Wireless Network
Take steps to safeguard wireless connectivity, including using encryption and changing your router's default password. Change the Service Set Identifier (SSID) from the manufactuer's default SSID; switch off SSID broadcasting to hide your network from outsiders; and enable MAC Address Filtering for every device connected to your network.
- Back-Up Your Files on a Regular Basis
Set a regular schedule for backing up important data to CDs, DVDs or an external hard drive.
- Report Suspected Fraud
Notify us immediately to report suspicious activity. You should also notify the Federal Trade Commission and the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnionCorp.
- Protect Your Account Number
Do not share your account number with anyone.
If you encounter fraudulent activity related to your Scottrade account, we provide protection and reimbursement through our Online Security Guarantee.