How we protect your data and investments

Here at OpenMoney, keeping your data safe and secure is our priority. Here’s the steps we take to make sure your data and investments are safe with us.

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The recent Apple advert plays on the notion that our phones hold a lot of data about us, even seemingly irrelevant information like your heart rate. ‘Privacy. That’s iPhone’. The fact that Apple are using privacy asan emotive subject to promote their product as opposed to its flashy new camera shows the importance that we put on keeping our data safe.

It’s hard to know what data about you is out there and it’s increasingly important to know it’s in safe hands. Here's everything you need to know about how we protect you.

SSL Certification

Our websites have SSL certificates. Like many, I didn’t know what that meant apart from the website has a green padlock in the URL bar – for most of us, this visual cue is enough. But what does it actually mean?

SSL stands for ‘Secure Socket Layer’. An SSL is a small data file that establishes a secure connection between the browser and the website. Any communication or data passed is encrypted.

Still sound confusing? Encryption looks something like this… 

256 bit data encryption

As the image shows, the output of encryption is a load of gobbledygook that humans can’t read or understand!

Bank level encryption

Now that we’re all encryption boffins, it’s useful to explain the level of encryption we use.

Our data is encrypted using 256 bit SSL encryption, which is the same level as most banks. If it’s good enough to protect your money, it’s good enough to protect your information too!

A 256-bit key can have 2256 possible combinations, that’s 2 x 2, x 2, x 2… up to 256 times.

It is one of the most secure methods of encryption available and according to this article, it would even take the fastest supercomputer inthe world thousands of years to crack.

Data Protection Training

As well of all of this fancy technology to keep your data safe from external threat, we also make sure that our staff are trained and educated in the world of GDPR (General DataProtection Regulations) to keep your data safe internally. GDPR practices are regulateand enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and any breach in the legislation means we as a business - and sometimes as individuals - are held accountable for the misuse of data.

We’ve all had training from our Data Protection Officer - he doesn’t wear a police uniform if you were wondering – and we have strict procedures in place when it comes to accessing customer data.

There are other things we do to ensure your data is safe too. We’re very selective as a business over the technology we use and we don’t access public with our work computers WIFI in case of any threats posed by the network.

FCA regulated & FSCS protection

As well as your data, it’s important to know that your money is safe with us too.

We’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority who set the rules and regulations for financial providers in the UK. If we breach any of these rules, we’ll be held accountable and will potentially face fines from the FCA. This also means that we’re not a scam and we won’t be transferring your money into our private pension pots!

If you do invest with us, you’re also protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).This means that your money is protected up to £85,000 if anything does go wrong. The FSCS is an independent fund set up by the government to help protect people’s money. If we go bust, it means you won’t be left out of pocket.

There’s more things we do to protect your data but unfortunately some are too technical for me to write about! If you do have any questions or queries about our processes, you can contact our support team on live chat Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm or via email at hello@open-money.co.uk.

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