Your personal information is one of your most important assets. Hennion & Walsh, Inc. takes pride in protecting it and educating our customers on how to keep it protected. That’s why we invest in state-of-the-art technology to help us do one of our most important jobs “Safeguarding your Information”.

Data Center:

• ISCA Firewalls
• Verisign Secured
• Valicert Security System
• Staffed 24x7x365

Below are some of the methods we utilize to ensure a safe trading environment.

• We utilize firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information.
• Our public Web servers are separate from the servers that contain personal information.
• All trading is done using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) as a first-tier security layer.
• We use various authentication methods to help prevent unauthorized access.
• Password encryption is used for trading.
• Authentication is checked multiple times during your session to further ensure a valid/secure working session.

We believe that knowledge is power, with the help of the Federal Trade Commission we have the educational resources to help you and your family fight back against Identity Theft. Please utilize the links below to learn how to Deter identity thieves by safeguarding your information, Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your accounts and billing statements and Defend against ID Theft as soon as you suspect it.

Tips on how to have a safe online experience:

• Install, use, and update antivirus software: Antivirus software will prove to be very helpful in defending your computer against malicious code, provided it is used correctly.
• Keep your operating system and program patched: You are strongly advised to apply all security-related patches for your software as they become available.
• Be cautious when reading e-mail with attachments and downloading files: You should never, do the following:
  • Never open email attachments from someone you don’t know.
  • Never open attachments forwarded to you even if they’re from someone you do know.
  • Never open unsolicited or unexpected email attachments until you’ve confirmed the sender actually meant to send them. If you know the sender and you are absolutely sure they intentionally sent the attachment, then scan it with an up-to-date virus scanner before opening it.
• Preserving your privacy: You should never do the following:
  • Never use the “Unsubscribe” feature of spam emails or reply to spam, because once you confirm the validity of your email address the spammer can keep on sending you unsolicited commercial email.
  • Never select the option on web browser for storing or retaining user name and password.
  • Never disclose personal, financial, or credit card information to unsolicited emails even if you do business with the institution. Call them to confirm they sent the email prior to opening it.
  • Never use a computer or device that cannot be fully trusted.
  • Never use public or Internet café computers to access online financial services accounts or perform a financial transaction.

This is for information purposes only and not designed as a tutorial or a guarantee that your computer will not be compromised. Hennion & Walsh, Inc. assumes no responsibility for protecting your computer. Have a safe online experience by following simple steps and using sound judgment.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in our nation today. Besides dumpster diving, mail theft and lost/stolen wallets, criminals are stealing information by overhearing conversations made on cell phones, from faxes and emails, by hacking into computers, from telephone and email scams, and even from careless online shopping and banking. In fact, more than 20% of all cases involve telecommunications and the Internet. It is of prime importance to understand how thieves steal your information via the telephone and computer systems. Compare this to a defensive driving course if you will. It is not enough to know how to use a phone or the Internet. One must know how to use this technology safely, including increased awareness of situations that lead to identity theft or the use of the technology will create more problems than it solves. Scam artists are good at putting together legitimate-sounding scripts, websites and emails.

Most scams, by phone or email, ask you to provide either credit card account information or your Social Security number. The Identity Theft Resource Center recommends that you NEVER give out this information unless you initiate the call and you know that you are speaking to a true company representative.

If you think you have received a SCAM, please forward the ENTIRE email to ITRC at: itrc@idtheftcenter.org and they will forward it to the FBI for you and let you know if it is a confirmed scam

To verify a suspected scam, the Identity Theft Resource Center recommends the following steps:

1. Contact the company involved directly, using a customer service number you find in the phone book or that you have used in the past. THINK FIRST- ACT SECOND. The action to take is to verify a contact by the company before responding to the email. Do not even send a “do not contact me again.”
2. Contact the FBI at www.fbi.gov, the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or your local State Attorney General’s office
3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 877-FTC HELP, visit www.ftc.gov or send it via email to: spam@uce.gov
4. See end of this page for list of other sites that report scams.
5. Remember, URLs that begin “http” are not secure. Only those that begin “https” are secure sites to send sensitive information.

Avoid scams that appear to use telephone numbers in the U.S but are expensive out-of-country numbers. If you’re not sure where a telephone number is located, use this free Area Code Decoder: http://decoder.americom.com/cgi-bin/decoder.cgi