Security
We protect our customer's identity and trading information in a number of ways: Customer Information (Account Management) All application and registration system information is accessed through a Secure Socket Layer (SSL). When an SSL session is started, our server sends its public key to the browser, which your browser uses to send a randomly generated key back to our server in order to have a secret key exchange for the session. IP Restrictions Advisor, Institution, and Broker Organization (partnership, corporation, LLC, and unincorporated business) accounts may restrict TWS user access to a set of specified IP addresses. TWS Trader Workstation encrypts your password to ensure that nobody can read it and log into your account. For added security, use a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) by checking Use SSL on the TWS login screen. Using SSL with TWS gives added privacy and integrity to your order information as it travels over the internet. Minor performance impacts may be experienced depending on the capabilities of your PC. Statements All statements are posted to our Account Management area which is accessed through an SSL application as described above. While we offer email statements to its customers as a convenience (option under account management/statements), we do not encourage this alternative as email statements are not secure. Customer Responsibilities While we do many things to keep our customers' accounts secure, it is also the responsibility of the customer to observe the following security guidelines: Use a strong password. Create a password with at least six characters using both numbers and non-alphanumeric characters (~!@#$%^&*). Don’t share your password with anyone. Don’t use your name or any other personal information as your password. Change your password frequently. Don’t use the same password for multiple systems. Don’t use notes on your monitor, keyboard or desk to help you remember your passwords. Lock your computer if you’re leaving it for a period of time. Set up a password protected screensaver. Turn off your computer when you have finished using it. It is almost impossible to gain access to your computer over the network if it is turned off. For more information about Windows desktop security see the Microsoft TechNet guide Improve Desktop Security. Use anti-virus software on your computer and keep it updated. Antivirus software vendors release updates frequently, often on a daily basis. If you don’t update your anti-virus software frequently, you are unprotected against the most recently identified viruses. See the list of the most popular anti-virus software packages below. Protect yourself against unauthorized access. While you are connected to the Internet, intruders or hackers can attempt to attack your computer. Their goal is to gain control over your PC or access your files, data or emails. Firewalls can help you to defend your computer against them by controlling the network traffic between your PC or home network and the Internet. Don’t share files if you don’t need to. Various Windows versions have different default configurations for file and printer sharing. Some versions create hidden administrative shares for administrative purposes. It is a smart idea to disable file and printer sharing unless you intend to use this functionality. If you decide to use it, make sure that you configure the access permissions with strong passwords, and only share for specific users. If you don’t need to share files, check to ensure that file sharing is disabled on your computer. Don’t use any file sharing or file exchange software. If you must share, don’t share your folder with full read/write access to everybody if it is enough to share it read-only and only for one user.