What is phishing?

When this method of attack is used, the phisher fraudulently requests the user (e.g. a bank or securities-account customer), via a forged e-mail address, to enter personal authentication data (e.g. user name, password, PIN and trader password) in a forged website. Both the e-mail and website are frequently skilfully masquerading as trustworthy entities, so that the forgery can be detected only by means of thorough examination. The phisher subsequently uses the secret data entered in the forged website for access to the user's online account or securities account.

How can phishing be prevented?

Pioneer Investments will never send you an e-mail asking you to disclose personal authentication data. Any e-mail requesting such disclosure is thus forged and must be ignored.

Do not click on any links in such e-mails under any circumstances, because the risk of virus or trojan horse infection is also very high here.

Enter your personal authentication data only directly on the Pioneer Investments website. You should also find the address www.pioneerinvestments.ch at the top left corner of your Internet browser.

Fund banking is a matter of trust

Given the trust that you place in us, we regard it as our duty to handle your data with care and do everything to protect it against misuse. Here you will learn what measures we take in order to afford such protection and what contributions you yourself can make:

Where does your data go?

All orders and messages you send to us from our website are retrieved by our Call Centre, where standard questions are answered and simple service requests such as the mailing of information material are handled. Detailed and complex inquiries are forwarded to the competent functional unit within Pioneer Investments. Our Call Centre will of course also answer all phone inquiries coming in through our hotline.

How do we use your data?

Various types of personal data are collected within the context of our website, which we use as follows:

When you register for a service and provide personal information in this context, we use such data only to the extent to which this is required for the provision of the service requested. When you register for our e-mail services, for instance, we will use the information you provide only for your subscription.

Visits to our website are tracked on an anonymous basis only. Such data is used for analysing and improving the structure and navigation of our website. We also evaluate this information in order to be able to offer you products geared to your user behaviour.

When you send us a message or place an order with us from our website, we will process your message or order and use your data for the purpose of providing you with information about the topic you addressed.

Your security is our top priority

Cutting-edge technologies, international security standards und first-rate computer experts safeguard the security of our computers and systems. And to make sure that they stay secure, we use only state-of-the-art software and reliable code and encryption processes. If you wish to obtain full details, click here to learn more about what we do and what you have to do in order to ensure complete security:

128 bit-encryption

The security of your data is our top priority. We therefore encrypt all data transferred in our exclusive section with one of the top-notch security standards, 128-bit SSL encryption. This code is considered to be unbreakable. After all, there are exactly 340.282.366.920.938.463.463.374.607.431.768.211.456 possible combinations.

Although two US scientists recently succeeded in cracking a comparatively insecure 56-bit code, it took their computers three full months to do so. However, a key is only valid for the duration of a single session, which usually lasts only three to a maximum of five minutes. Experts believe that it would take more than 10 trillion years to decipher a 128-bit code.

The https-encryption symbol in your browser

You can check whether you are in an encrypted session or not at any time. Before the connection to our computer systems is set up, you will receive a message that you are about to go to a secure connection. Once secure communication is ensured, a little closed lock will appear in the status line at the bottom of your browser. You can retrieve details about the encryption and the key length by double-clicking this icon.

Please note: if no lock appears, your data will not be transferred in an encrypted mode.

Your data is stored securely

The computer on which your data is stored is equipped with state-of-the-art security mechanisms. Firewalls and other reliable security barriers protect your data with the highest security standards currently available. Only you yourself will know your user name and password.

Our Internet servers are continuously monitored for proper operation. Even attempts to circumvent the firewall are registered and effective counter-measures immediately initiated.

Cookies

Our system uses cookies for your security. A cookie is a small file that we store only when you start your session on the Pioneer Investments website. The aim is to ensure that no one can access your data after a certain period has elapsed. The cookie is not saved on the hard disk of your computer and is deleted once you close your browser. It is completely secure. After all, we know that nobody wants a website to permanently store data on his or her computer.