Our goal is to make sure that your information is both transmitted and stored securely. We've researched several systems and have chosen a sophisticated system that meets or exceeds the current state of the art standards.

But no security system is 100% guaranteed, so we will continue to evaluate technology as it develops and you can feel confident that we will implement any improvements as they become feasible.

Transmission
All information sent over the internet is encrypted so that it is only useful to you and us.  All pages that request personal information are delivered to your browser through HTTPS, a secure server communications layer. You can check this encryption by checking for the key (Netscape) or lock (Internet Explorer) icon on the browser. If you have the security feature of your browser turned on, a dialog box notifying you that you are entering a secure page will pop up when the page loads.

Your information is encrypted
Your data is run through a software program that encrypts the data before it gets sent to us over the Internet.

It takes whatever you give it, say, your annual salary, and turns it into a meaningless jumble of letters, numbers and symbols so that even if someone somehow intercepts your information, they can't piece it back together into anything understandable. But on our end, we have the key to reconstitute the data stream into your salary.

Storage
Once we have the data, it is stored in a secure database behind a firewall. This is a complex piece of technology developed to keep anyone from being able to break into our system and access your data.

Password
The only person who can access your data is you, and you need to create and use a password in order to use it. Our login system requires both your user id (associated with your computer) and your password before allowing access. This prevents someone from pretending to be you and reading your information.

Cookies
When you come to our site, we give you a cookie. This is a small file stored by the web browser on your computer. Using cookies, our system can recognize you and what you were working on during previous visits to our site, similar to when a travel agent website recalls the last flight you booked. Cookies will not adversely affect your computer's hard drive or spread a virus. Click here for more details on cookies, and how to check if your browser accepts them.

Cookies
A cookie is a short text message that a web site sends to your browser and then stores on your computer. Cookies help us remember your saved information and preferences each time you come back to our site.
For example, when you first visit Barakat, Inc., we send a cookie with a unique ID number. Based on this number, we can identify you on your next visit and automatically retrieve information for you, such as your email address, so you don't have to re-enter it.

The information stored on a cookie is extremely small and should not noticeably affect either your system's storage capacity, or its performance. And, according to the friendly folks at Netscape: Cookies won't eat your hard drive, spread a virus, or generally subvert the dominant paradigm.

"A cookie file is NOT a secret way for a web server to find out everything about you and what you have on your hard drive.

"The ONLY way that any private information could be in your cookie file would be if you personally gave that information to a web server in the first place and it decided to put that information into your cookie file for some reason.

"Also, each cookie is marked with information about what web server it's for; Netscape Navigator does not send any cookies to any web server they're not for. There is absolutely no way for a web server to get access to any private information about you or your system through cookies. Also, there is no possible way that a virus could be spread through the use of cookies."

How do I know if I can accept cookies?
The easiest way to see if you can accept cookies is to try to use one of Barakat, Inc.'s password protected services. If you make it past the password page, you have a cookie. Otherwise, we will let you know what you can do to become cookie friendly.

If you use the site without ever getting to a password page, the only way to see if you have accepted a cookie is to do a file search for "cookie." If it exists, this search will find it.

What do I need to do to get a cookie?
Most of you will get Barakat, Inc. cookies without noticing. Some of you, however, may need to modify your settings to be able accept a cookie.

There are three reasons why you might not be able to accept a Barakat, Inc. cookie (or any cookie for that matter):

·        Your browser is set to refuse cookies. This can easily be changed by adjusting your settings. (Edit preferences to accept cookies.)

·        Your computer is accessing the Internet through a network with a firewall in place, which prevents you from accepting cookies. If this is the case, you will need to speak with your network administrator.

·        Some browsers are not capable of dealing with cookies. If your ISP allows it, we recommend using the latest version of either Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

You can delete your cookie at any time
If, for any reason, you decide that you want to delete your cookie, you can do a file search for "cookie," and you will get a list of all your cookies and their locations.

Warning: Deleting your cookie will erase our record of your user ID, which will make it difficult for you to access the information that you have entered on the site.

How can I get more Information about cookies?
A complete technical explanation of how cookies work is available on Netscape's website.

Edit preferences to accept cookies
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x-5.x

·        Go to the View (Tools in IE 5.x) menu, click on Internet Options.

·        Click on the Advanced tab (Security tab in IE 5.x.)"

·        in IE 4.x click on Always accept cookies.

·        In IE 5.x click on Custom level button, then click on Enable cookies.

Netscape Navigator 4.x

·        Go to the Edit menu, click on Preferences

·        Go to Advanced read halfway down to Cookies and change your radio button to Accept all cookies.

·        If you are concerned about accepting cookies, check the box labeled Warn me before accepting a cookie.

·        Once back to the home page, hit the Refresh or Reload button to apply the change.