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First Republic Banking Online Privacy
The privacy of the communications between you (your browser) and our servers is ensured using cryptography. Cryptography scrambles messages exchanged between your browser and our online banking server.
Encryption happens as follows:
When you go to the sign-on page for online banking, your browser establishes a secure session with our server. The secure session is established using a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption. This protocol requires the exchange of what are called public and private keys. Keys are random numbers chosen for that session and are only known between your browser and our server. After the keys are exchanged, your browser will use the numbers to scramble (encrypt) the messages sent between your browser and our server. Both sides require the keys because they need to de-scramble (decrypt) the messages when they are received. The SSL protocol, not only ensures privacy, but also ensures that no other browser can "impersonate" your browser, nor alter any of the information sent. You can tell whether your browser is in secure mode by looking for the secured lock symbol at the bottom of your browser window.
The numbers used as encryption keys are analogous to combination locks. The strength of encryption is based on the number of possible combinations that a lock can have. As the number of possible combinations grows, it becomes less likely that anyone would be able to guess the combination in order to decrypt the message. Today's browsers offer 40-bit encryption or 128-bit encryption. Both result in a large number of possible combinations, 240 and 2128 respectively. Our servers are compatible with both, however we recommend the use of 128-bit capable browsers. If you want to determine the level of encryption that your browser supports, click here.
For security reasons, we recommend that you use Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer as your browser. You can upgrade your browser by downloading from:
Account disclosure (PDF)
