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FAQs

Security


How does BMO Nesbitt Burns Gateway ensure the security of my online account information?

Ensuring the security of your personal information is extremely important to us. In BMO Nesbitt Burns Gateway several features have been implemented designed to protect your personal and financial information. All information is encrypted using 128-bit encryption technology. 128-bit encryption is the strongest, most secure form of encryption that is generally available in Internet browsers on the market in North America today. Encryption is a means of scrambling information between a client’s PC and BMO Nesbitt Burns’ computing systems. Information that is encrypted at one end is decrypted (decoded) upon receipt at the other end. In addition, your personal information, such as names and addresses, are not displayed in Gateway.

Another of our security features is the installation of a product known as an Internet firewall. It is designed to prevent unauthorized access to BMO Nesbitt Burns' computer systems from external sources. As its name suggests, the firewall is an industrial-strength combination of hardware and software designed to securely separate the Internet from our internal computer systems and databases.

In addition to data encryption and firewalls, you are required to enter a unique User ID and password to access your BMO Nesbitt Burns Gateway account.
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What is the minimum browser version supported by Gateway?

Gateway has been built to support Internet Explorer 5.0+, and Firefox 1.0. If you have a lower browser version with 128-bit encryption, you may still be able to enter the site, but you may experience a downgrade in performance. Please note that the third party equity research¹ function has different browser requirements than the rest of Gateway. The Internet browsers supported for third party equity research are Netscape 7.0+ and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+. Using unsupported browsers may cause unpredictable results. You can download an upgraded browser version by visiting the Netscape website, the Microsoft website or the Mozilla Firefox website.

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How do I know if my web browser supports 128-bit encryption?
If you are trying to sign into Gateway and you are receiving an "Insufficient Encryption" message, you will need to obtain a 128-bit encryption browser. You can download an upgraded browser version by visiting the Microsoft website and/or the Mozilla Firefox website.
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What can I do to protect my account information in Gateway?
Ensure that your account number and password are kept in a safe place. Your password serves as a security measure against unauthorized access to your data you protect the privacy of your account information by not revealing your password to anyone . You can also clear your cache regularly or turn off and re-start your browser after you sign-out of Gateway to eliminate any copies of web pages that may have been stored on your hard drive.
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How can I clear my browser’s cache?
To protect the confidential nature of your personal information, we highly recommend that you clear your browser’s memory cache.

To clear cache for Internet Explorer users:

  1. From your browser’s menu, select ‘View’ (Internet Explorer 5 users, select ‘Tools’)
  2. Select ‘Internet Options’ and click on the ‘Delete Files’ button
  3. Place a checkmark in the box and click on the ‘OK’ button
  4. Click on the ‘OK’ button again to exit the ‘Internet Options’ menu
If you are using Firefox 1.0:
  1. Click "Tools" and select "Options" on the Firefox menu bar.
  2. Click the "Privacy Icon" on the Option menu bar to open the Privacy Properties.
  3. Click "Clear" across from the Cache option.
  4. Click "Ok" to return to the browser main page.
  5. Exit and re-launch the browser.

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Is email communication secure?
Messages you send to us by e-mail are sent outside of areas of the Website using encryption. Do not send any personal information to BMO Nesbitt Burns (example: account numbers or trading instructions) by Internet e-mail. The security, integrity and privacy of any and all information exchanged between you and BMO Nesbitt Burns via email cannot be guaranteed and any such information may be tampered with in transit by a third party.
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¹ Online research through Gateway is available to qualifying clients. Ask your BMO Nesbitt Burns Investment Advisor for more details.

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