CU Connect Security

Browser Information
What is a browser?
A browser is what enables you to visit web sites and view web pages on your computer screen. A browser is the software you use to surf the web. Once you get to a site, your browser knows how to turn the programming instructions sent over the Internet into a meaningful web page. If your browser doesn't understand this code, you can't read the material and view the accompanying graphics.

What is encryption?
Your password and all account information is scrambled using one of the strongest forms of encryption available for use over the World Wide Web.

How do I know if my browser is using encryption?
Most browsers including Netscape Navigator and Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, AOL and WebTV support encryption. You'll know if your browser is using encryption by the security icon in the browser. In Netscape the icon looks like a key or lock. Internet Explorer uses a small lock. If your browser is not secure, the key will be broken or the lock will be open. Internet Explorer doesn't display a lock if you are not at a secure site.

What browsers will work with CU Connect?
The following list of browsers can be used with CU Connect:

Cookies
What are cookies?
Simply put, it is a small piece of data that may be saved on your hard disk. A cookie is simply an HTTP header that consists of a text-only string that gets entered into the memory of your browser. This string contains the domain, path, lifetime, and value of a variable. If the lifetime of this variable is longer than the time the user spends at your site, then this string is saved to file for future reference.

How does CU Connect use cookies?
CU Connect uses cookies to track your session. If we didn't, you would need to log on each time you accessed a new CU Connect page. CU Connect writes seven different cookies to your drive each time you log on to CU Connect. These files are encrypted twice: Once with first level encryption that masks data contained within the file, and a second time using SSL encrytion. This virtually eliminates the likelihood that an eavesdropper will gain information from a cookie created by CU Connect.

In addition, when you click the End Session to log off CU Connect, all cookies are automatically removed from your drive. This means that a third party who attempts to access the cookies directly from your drive might not be able to do so.

If your browser is set to refuse cookies, follow these steps to enable cookies:

For Netscape Communicator

• Click on "Edit" and then "Preferences." Click on the "Advanced" option.
• Under the "Cookies" option, make sure the bullet of "disable Cookies" is not checked.
• Select either of the following options: "Accept all cookies" or "Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server."
• Click "OK."
• Click on "Reload."

For Internet Explorer

• Select "Tools."
• Select "Internet Options."
• Click on the "Advanced" tab.
• Scroll down to the "Security" heading.
• Under Cookies, either "Always accept cookies" or "Prompt before accepting cookies" should be selected.
• Click on "OK."
• Click on "Refresh."