Swivel: Frequently Asked Questions - Information from Tekgia

Swivel: Frequently Asked Questions
[Authentication Solution]

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What is a PIN?

A PIN (Personal Identification Number) serves as your identifier to let you access your personal information, conduct online sales using your credit card on various Web sites, or conduct business using your credit card in retail stores. It's like the Personal Identification Number that you get from your bank that enables you to withdraw cash from an ATM. Because your PIN serves as your electronic signature, you should not give it to anyone.

Why do I need a PIN?

PINs are essential in proving User Authentication as they help prove you are who you say you are. You need a PIN in order to perform the kind of online tasks that are personal or contain sensitive information.

Examples of those kinds of tasks are:

Accessing a LAN or Wireless LAN (WLAN) within your company

Purchasing goods over the Web using a credit card

Purchasing goods at a retail store using a credit card

Accessing your account information from a financial services company such as banking, insurance or mortgage

How do I request my PIN, and how long does it take to receive it?

This depends on the company that is issuing the PIN. Normally you would go through a one-time registration process with that company, where you divulge personal information that is known only to yourself.

The company retains this information in a secure environment and issues you the PIN, most likely through the Royal Mail, which could take two to five days. Sometimes PINs are sent via email, which in most cases would be almost immediate, but companies do not normally do this because it is not considered to be as secure. Your PIN must be remembered by you and not divulged to anyone else.

What happens if I have lost or forgotten my PIN or think it has been compromised?

You will have to contact the company that issued the PIN and ask them to give you a new one. You will probably have to answer the security questions that were originally asked of you when you originally received the PIN.

I have a Digital Certificate on my PC, isn?t that enough?

A digital certificate is an electronic "credit card" that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. It is issued by a certification authority (CA). It contains your name, a serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used for encrypting messages and digital signature), and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real. Digital certificates can be kept in registries so that authenticating users can look up other users' public keys.

However, digital certicicates, are not only difficult to load and administer, but also just identify the PC that is being used, not the User. PINsafe is a much easier method of User Identification, and can also be used to complement digital certificates and additionally can be used by the User everywhere.

Why can't I choose my own PIN?

A PIN will normally be assigned to you. Some companies may allow you to change your PIN after it has been assigned. However, in most cases there are a small number of PINs that are invalid, and will never be issued or allowed, such as 1-2-3-4 or 9-9-9-9, to avoid other people trying to easily guess your PIN. This is done for your protection.

Users of the Swivel Partner Resources Area are permitted to change their PIN to a more memorable or preferred number from the log in page.

Why can't I enter my PIN using my mouse or the numeric keys?

This is for your protection. The whole point of using PINsafe is to ensure that malicious viruses don?t ?listen? to your keyboard and try to determine which keys you are entering for your PIN. Therefore we have disabled the numeric keys and the mouse during the input process to prevent the PIN from being observed by a Shoulder Surfer, OCR Trojans or video capture.

How is my PIN protected on the Internet?

We never transmit your PIN. Once your PIN has been input through PINsafe?, Swivel applies a simple patented algorithm to create a one-use-only four-digit number, which we call a one-time code. This is recognised by our Authorisation Server and therefore validates the transaction.

Why do Trojan Horses and Keyboard Sniffers present a threat to my Security?

These programs can sit in your PC without your knowledge and capture sensitive information. They then send that information to the author of the virus where your security can be severely compromised.

Like any other program, a Trojan Horse can arrive via floppy disk or CD-ROM. But it can also be received in an e-mail or unknowingly downloaded from the Internet.

Once inside the your PC, the Trojan Horse allows remote control of almost all parts of the operating system, including the file system, registry, system passwords and network processes. The program is able to take screenshots of the target system and send them anywhere.

Keyboard sniffers can remotely record all keystrokes made on a machine, including passwords and logins.

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For further information, please email: info@tekgia.com.

For quotes, please email: quote@tekgia.com.

To discuss, please phone 0845 124 0484.