Protecting Your Privacy & Security

Security Policy

The trust of our customers is Life’s Treasures Kauai's most precious asset. Therefore, the security of your personal and financial information is one of our highest priorities. The following questions and answers describe the systems that Life’s Treasures Kauai has developed to provide our customers one of the highest levels of security in our industry.

Lifes Treasures Kauai is PayPal Verified

PayPal's Verification System allows you to learn more about users before you pay them through PayPal. Verify that the information below is consistent with the business, organization or person you wish to pay.

Status: Verified
Account Creation Date: Aug 9, 2004

What it Means to be Verified

To become Verified, a PayPal member in the United States must provide us with proof that he or she has opened an account at a bank or other financial institution. Because these institutions are required by law to screen account holders, PayPal's verification process increases security when you pay parties you do not know. Please note that PayPal's verification system does not constitute an endorsement of a member, nor a guarantee of a member's business practices. You should always consider other indicators when evaluating members, including length of PayPal membership and reputation scores (on eBay or other auction sites, if applicable).

How secure is my information?

Life’s Treasures Kauai has made a significant investment in leading-edge security software, systems, and procedures to offer you a safe and secure Internet environment and protect your information. While no security system is absolutely impenetrable, we are constantly reviewing, refining, and upgrading our security infrastructure as new tools or techniques become available.

We go to great lengths to protect your account from your very first interaction with Life’s Treasures Kauai. For example, the Life’s Treasures Kauai requires you to enter a valid User Name and Password before permitting you access to see any personal or financial information. This site also encrypts all the information that the server and your browser exchange. If you are inactive for an extended period of time, the site will log you off and you will need to reenter your User Name and Password.

Why are cookies important?

The Life’s Treasures Kauai Web site uses a common technique, cookies, to identify one page request from another. These cookies do not contain any personal or account identifying (e.g., password) information. They merely allow the site to recognize a page request that comes from someone who has already logged on. The information is stored temporarily in memory and is available only during the course of a session. The information is removed once you log out or close down your browser. Some browsers can be configured to warn the user whenever a site sends it a cookie. If your browser provides an edit message asking you to accept or reject the use of cookies, you should accept. The site will not work correctly without them.

What is encryption?

Encryption is used to protect messages from eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery over the Internet. It is a mathematical process that transforms a message in order to conceal its meaning.

How does Life’s Treasures Kauai use encryption?

It is the policy of Life’s Treasures Kauai to encrypt the transmission of all personal or financial Web-based information that is transmitted between our site and your browser. The security standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is used to implement this. SSL is the leading standard for securing World Wide Web transmissions.

How can I tell that SSL is in effect?

The URL (Internet address) of a secure document begins with HTTPS://. The additional "S" on the end of the familiar HTTP indicates a secure channel to the server. Every secure page on Life’s Treasures Kauai's Web site has been secured with a digital certificate. This is shown via the "site certificate" that sits on all secure pages. To view this certificate, click on the image of the closed lock or the solid key of your browser window. A small frame displaying site security information will appear. If you use Internet Explorer, click on the word 'Subject' to verify the Web site. Click on 'Issuer' to verify the site certification authority. If you use Netscape, click on the "View Certificate" button to see information on the subject and issuer.

How secure is SSL?

SSL can use keys of various sizes. The larger the key length, the greater the number of possible combinations, the more difficult the decryption challenge, and the more secure the message. While this site will provide the maximum level of encryption supported by your browser, those wishing to maximize the security of their Web activities are encouraged to obtain a browser with 128-bit SSL encryption. These browsers are available for downloading at home from either Netscape* or Microsoft* at no cost except connect time. However, by United States law, these browsers are available to U.S. and Canadian citizens or permanent residents only.

Secure Sockets Layer uses public key encryption mechanisms which were developed by RSA Data Security Inc. These are well known, secure algorithms. In the export version of SSL (such as the version included in Navigator and other Netscape products available outside the US), a 40 bit key is used for the encryption. It was recently reported that using brute force methods, the key was cracked. Brute force methods basically implies trying every possible combination of bits until the correct one is found. The number of combinations which would need to be examined is 2 to the power of 40, which is 1,099,511,627,776 different keys; and you need to analyse the data for each test key to find out if you've actually hit upon the correct one. Clearly, without a very very significant computing resource, a brute force technique is not really going to be viable. One of the first examples of a crack of the 40 bit export version key used a network of 120 computers, as well as a number of parallel computers, and it took about 8 days to search half the keyspace. However, more recently, RSA challenged users to break the cipher for a reward of $1000. A graduate student claimed to have succeeded in just three and a half hours. However, he used 250 computers. Obviously, it probably isn't going to be worthwhile cracking a 40 bit key for a credit card number.

For US-Domestic versions of the protocol, 128 bit keys are used. Life's Treasures Kauai uses the Comodo PositiveSSL 128/256 bit encryption Certificate. Such a key is realistically impossible to crack by brute force methods using current computing technologies. We don't have a computer fast enough to break the key in any reasonable length of time; for this reason, it is often stated that the amount of time required to break the key is infinite, although there would be a finite time to completion and too bad if the universe ends before you have the key.

Why do I need to use a particular browser?

To maximize the privacy of your information and provide a consistent visual presentation, a relatively current and capable browser is required. The browser requirement for this site is Netscape Navigator* 4.0 and above, or Microsoft Internet Explorer* 4.0 and above. These browsers have been used to extensively test this site to ensure that the pages display and behave in a predictable manner. Other browsers may work if they have the required browser features; however, this site has not been tested or certified for other browsers. For example, the browser must support JavaScript, Cookies, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), an encryption standard for browsers. For enhanced security, we recommend using a browser version that uses 128-bit SSL encryption. Note: If you are an AOL user, you will also need to use one of the minimum required browsers. You may need to download one of the approved browsers to use the Life’s Treasures Kauai site

What responsibility do I need to take as a customer?

Although Life’s Treasures Kauai does everything possible to ensure security, customers have their own set of responsibilities in providing security for their accounts. User names and passwords must be kept secret. Make sure that no one is watching when you enter your user name or passwords. It is also important to remember to log out of the Life’s Treasures Kauai and even exit the browser when leaving the computer. Anytime you disclose your identifying information to third parties, you are creating greater risk of unauthorized use or access for which Life’s Treasures Kauai cannot take responsibility.

Life’s Treasures Kauai has a five character minimum password length. After 55 minutes of inactivity on Life’s Treasures Kauai secure pages, you will be logged out. To restart your session, you will need to login again. As a further precautionary measure, if you forget your password, at the login in screen, click on the “Forgot your password?” and you will be taken to the email new password screen. Life’s Treasures Kauai will confirm your email address and a new password will be issued to you and sent to your email address.

If you are using broadband Internet access (cable or DSL), we recommend that you use a personal firewall since broadband Internet access is "always on" and puts your PC and any information it may contain at risk from hackers. You should also use a virus-screening program with up to date virus definitions to minimize the risk of malicious code or Trojan horses on your computer.