Security and HomeStreet.com

Protecting our customer's information is always a concern, whether it's online or through traditional banking methods. In order to protect your personal information, we use proven security methods and technology on our web site — so you can bank with confidence whenever you visit homestreet.com.

Information about how to prevent e-mail fraud can be found here. More information about Online Banking and general web security can be found below:

General Web Security
When you are on a secure page, communication between your browser and our Web server is protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL provides data encryption, server authentication, and message integrity for an Internet connection. Only our servers have the code that can read the secure messages transmitted on our site.

There are two ways you can verify that you are on a secure web page:

• A closed padlock icon, usually located in the lower right hand corner of your browser window, means the page is secure.  
  
  
• The website address will begin with the letters "https://". The "s" indicates that the page is secure.
  

Please note: e-mail sent over the Internet is generally not secure. To send us secure e-mail, you should use our Contact Us form. Because an Internet e-mail response back to you will not be secure, we will not include confidential account information in an e-mail response. You may also contact your local branch or the Customer Service Center at 1-800-719-8080.

Online Banking Security
Online Banking security is addressed at three levels:

1. Transmitting Information to and from Online Banking
   Communication between the customer's browser and the online banking server uses the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology described above. To ensure that our customers get the most out of the SSL technology, Online Banking requires the use of a web browser that supports 128-bit encryption.
   
   If your browser does not support 128-bit encryption, recommended browsers include: Netscape Navigator 4.75, Internet Explorer 5.0 or 6.0, and AOL 6 to 8, but other browsers that support 128-bit encryption may also work.
   
   
2. Storing Information
   The customer information database is housed on a secure server and protected by firewall technology. Just as authenticated requests are the only things capable of communicating with the online banking server, the online banking server is the only thing able to send requests to the customer database.
   
   
3. Preventing Unauthorized Users
   A security analyzer constantly monitors login attempts and recognizes failures that could indicate a possible unauthorized attempt to log into an account. When such trends are observed, steps will be taken automatically to prevent that account from being used.