Cornell Local Section Security Statement

We will never ask for your credit card number, drivers license number, or any other form of personal identification beyond the username and password you may create to access any forums we may establish. Any request that appears to come from the Cornell Local Section of the American Chemical Society for any such information should be reported to your IT support team immediately.

How do I know if this website is secure?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), the industry-standard security protocol that the ACS website uses to communicate with secure browsers, takes care of the first two items. When communicating with a secure server like ours, these browsers encrypt the information you send in a way that is extremely difficult for anyone else to decode. If you are not sure whether your browser supports secure transactions, don’t worry. If it doesn’t, you won’t be able to complete a transaction. You should also look for a visual image (generally a lock) that indicates a secure site, and a web address that starts with https://, although this may not appear immediately unless you highlight the web address, depending upon your browser and settings.

How do I know I’m in a secure area of the website?

There are several ways to confirm that you’re in a secure area. All SSL-capable browsers have a symbol to indicate the secure mode

You can also tell when you’re in a secure area because the URL to the left of the colon changes from “http” to “https” to signify that a SSL protocol is being used to communicate with the server. (http means HyperText Transport Protocol; https means HTTP with SSL.) In most browsers, you’ll also see a solid blue line in the upper portion of the browser’s window. This additional visual cue tells you that you are browsing a secure area.

One additional note: Some browsers give you a warning when you go from a secure area to a regular area. The aim is worthy enough—to ensure that people know when they’ve left a secure server. But in practice, the message is often a bit startling, and makes it look like you’ve done something wrong even though you really haven’t.