Online Security Statement

Revised January 2007

First Citizens has in place some of the top Internet security technology in the industry to protect your personal financial information. We employ a number of methods to maintain the security of your information, including:

Unique Identifiers. To access your account and certain of our financial services on our Web site, including through Personal and Business Online Banking, you will be required to enter valid access codes such as a customer/user identification code and password. Additional authentication measures for access through our online banking products are described in our Personal Online Banking and Business Online Banking Agreements. Without proper identification, access to your account information is denied.

Secure Browsers and Encryption. We require the use of secure browsers when you access our online services, including our Personal Online Banking and Business Online Banking. Secure browsers allow protected communication with our Web site by encrypting the information between you and our site. We utilize Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, which converts sensitive information transmitted over the Internet between your computer’s browser and our computer systems (like your password and customer/user identification code) into secure code that cannot be read by unauthorized parties. To access your account through Personal or Business Online Banking and perform transactions on firstcitizens.com, we require the use of a Web browser that supports a 128-bit SSL encryption technology – among the strongest and most widely used methods of securing Internet transactions. You can tell your information is being protected when you see a URL that begins with “https” (instead of “http”) in the address line and a secure symbol, such as a closed padlock or key icon, at the bottom of your browser screen.

Firewalls. In addition, the computers that run our Web site are protected by constantly monitored firewalls that act as a barrier between the Internet and our secure computer network – preventing unauthorized access. Every message that enters or leaves our network passes through the firewall. Messages that do not meet our criteria are blocked.

Virus Protection. We employ up-to-date anti-virus protection technology to detect viruses and prevent them from entering our computer network.

Timeout Feature. For additional protection, our online applications have a timeout feature that automatically ends your session after a certain period of inactivity.