About this statement

This privacy statement sets out how AEGON UK uses and protects any personal information that you give us when you use this website.

We go to great lengths to keep your information secure. However, with the growing number of fraudulent emails and ‘phishing’ sites, it’s important that you also protect yourself. Read on to find out how.

Phishing

A ‘phishing’ email attempts to get you to reveal confidential information by pretending to be from a trusted source. The way it usually works is that you’ll be asked to follow a link to a website where you’ll then be asked to ’verify’ or ‘update’ your password, user ID or credit card details. These emails and websites look extremely genuine so to protect yourself you should:

1. only click on a link if you’re expecting the email and know who it’s from
2. type our web address, www.aegonse.co.uk, into your browser, and navigate directly to the information you are looking for, if you’re in any doubt
3. never trust an email purporting to be from us that asks you to ‘verify’ or ‘update’ your confidential details
4. contact us at eservicesecurity@aegon.co.uk if you suspect you’ve received a ‘phishing’ email from a source pretending to be us, or you have any other security concerns

Our email services provide quick and easy access to the site, but security is our number one priority, so please don’t use anything other than trusted sources.
As a general rule, if you’re not expecting it or don’t know who it’s from, don’t open it or click on it.

Look after your password

Your passwords are the keys to your personal information so you should never disclose them to anyone or use the same password on different internet sites. You should also make sure all your passwords are ‘strong’. In other words, they should:

1. be hard to guess
2. appear to be random
3. include a mixture of upper and lower case
4. include numbers
5. be at least eight characters long

Firewall

Firewalls protect your PC from unauthorised access and are the starting point for keeping you and your personal information safe. A firewall helps prevent unauthorised access to your PC while allowing you to connect to the internet and use your PC as normal. There are many different firewall applications available, and they often come installed as standard these days. It’s crucial that you keep your firewall up to date and turned on at all times.

Anti-virus

Anti-virus software periodically scans for known viruses and prevents them from infecting your PC. As new viruses are being discovered daily, make sure that you have the latest updates installed.

Anti-spyware

Spyware can track websites you visit, log the keystrokes you make and capture all the information you type. As with anti-virus, anti-spyware software can scan for and remove malicious programs. Make sure you have the latest updates installed.

Up-to-date software

All major application developers will release ‘patches’, which fix known problems or enhance the software. You should install updates for your PC as soon as they’re available. We recommend that you enable the ‘Automatic update’ feature of your software.

Secure your wireless connection

It’s important that you follow the manufacturer’s instructions to secure your wireless connection. This will:

1. protect your information from being intercepted, and
2. prevent your broadband connection from being accessed without your knowledge 

For more details on any of the above topics, please visit the UK government sponsored site www.getsafeonline.org.