TREND makes the security of your personal information a high priority. We follow many best practices to protect your identity from unauthorized access.
Internet security is certainly a hot topic these days. Rarely a day goes by without hearing about a security breach, e-mail virus, or new data protection measures. When companies you have relationships with collect your personal information, they are responsible for ensuring the security of that information. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, many companies, including TREND, follow the best practices established by security industry experts.
TREND makes the security of your personal information a high priority. We follow many of the best practices to protect your identity from unauthorized access. These practices include using encryption in conjunction with firewalls to enhance the security of data transmissions, operating a secure website, and establishing a corporate code of conduct, which includes not encouraging the sending confidential information via e-mail.
Encryption Makes Information Unreadable
The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology encrypts, or codes, your personal information, such as login names, passwords and account information as it travels over the Internet. Any information you enter is scrambled then decoded once it reaches your browser.
Want to see if your Internet session is secure? Look for a small lock symbol located in the lower corner of your web browser window. Most browsers use this symbol to indicate if data transmissions are encrypted. Or, do the letters "https://" appear at the beginning of the website URL in your browser. If so, the "s" means that the web connection is secure.
TREND offers this type of security to encrypt the
information you enter on login, in My Profile and on pages where you
pay your TREND bill in Billing and Training.
Code of Conduct Sets Corporate Standards
Most companies have developed specific guidelines for ethical standards and business conduct for their employees. When it comes to handling any personally identifiable information, companies have protocols in place when corrective actions are necessary. TREND restricts access to your personally identifiable information to staff members who need to know that information to provide products and services to you. We also enforce physical and electronic measures to guard your non-public personally identifiable information.
The security of your TREND account also depends on your protection of your TREND password. When you call TREND, a help desk representative attempts to verify your identity before discussing your account information. If you contact TREND electronically regarding any sensitive account information, we may suggest contacting us via telephone due to safety concerns. TREND also does not e-mail personally indentifiable information, especially passwords, due to their sensitive nature and the possibility that it could be read by an intruder. We have implemented these practices because we care about your safety!
Privacy Policy Details Protection Plans
TREND is committed to handling your personally identifiable information with high standards of security.
TREND's privacy policy describes the personally identifiable information, such as name, address, e-mail address, phone number and financial information, that is collected and what steps TREND takes to protect it.
When paying fees in My Account, TREND automatically encrypts your personally identifiable information in transit from your computer to ours using the SSL with an encryption key length of 1,024-bits, which is above the industry standard. Other pages where sensitive information is transferred and SSL is used are the Login page, Homepage and all My Profile pages. Before you enter My Account, our server checks that you're using an approved browser - one that uses SSL 3.0 or higher, the industry standard. TREND takes these security steps because we believe they are necessary to properly ensure the protection of your information.
TREND also uses a technique called "seeding" whereby we add fictitious members into our member database as a precautionary step against unauthorized users. If an intruder accesses our database and uses the information to contact the fictitious member, they would unknowingly contact us. Upon contact, TREND would immediately identify a security breach and take corrective actions.
TREND to Increase Security
In addition to the above physical, electronic and managerial procedures already in place, TREND is in the process of modifying system functionality and policies to increase the security of your information, such as your password.
"With increasing concerns about content security and privacy, TREND is pro-actively taking additional steps to protect our members' personal information from unauthorized use," said Tom Phillips, President and CEO, TREND.
The security of your personally identifiable information remains one of TREND's top priorities. Whether its updating our software or implementing new software or functionality, TREND is pro-actively seeking new ways to make the system more secure. More information about these system enhancements will be available soon.
Password Best Practices
Passwords are like the keys to your home. It goes without saying that you wouldn't leave your home unlocked. You keep it under lock and key to protect your valuables. The same holds true with Internet security. You want to keep sensitive e-mail, financial information or confidential business data locked up, so you utilize passwords to keep your accounts safe and secure. After all, a password is all that stands between the world and your data.
A malicious or curious intruder can access your accounts simply by guessing or breaking your password. Currently in development, TREND will be implementing changes to password retrieval system and institute other relevant business practices with regard to safeguarding your password information. To prevent your accounts from being compromised, it is important to follow best practices for password security.
Step One: Change Your Password from the Default
The password that comes with a system is normally the first one that an intruder will try. Due to the way that passwords are stored in many of the simpler authentication schemes, if an intruder gains access to your system, they can usually guess your password in a relatively short amount of time.
Step Two: Choose a Strong Password
A strong password is a password that is not easily decoded by an intruder. According to industry experts, one of the best ways to create a password that is strong yet easy to remember is to use a mnemonic. Use the first letter of every word in one of your favorite songs, followed by a random letter or number. This could create a password such as "tmottb70" - which looks like gibberish, but is actually easy to remember because it stands for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
Step Three: Don't Write Your Password Down
The fastest way to invite an intruder into your account is to jot your password on a yellow post-it note and stick to your monitor or leave it in a desk drawer.
Step Four: Change Your Password Frequently
Internet best practices suggest that you
change your password at least once every six months and that your new password should unrelated to the previous one.
Step Five: Never Share Your Password
You should never e-mail or relay a password to anyone.
While no system is entirely secure, using these five steps can help you drastically reduce the chance of an intruder compromising your account and obtaining valuable information.