Virtual transactions The Internet offers a new twist to banking by phone >BY SHIRA LEVINE, New Media Editor

Security First National Bank, the world's first Internet bank, has opened its doors, so to speak, to customers of Internet phone company StarTronix International.

StarTronix On-Line provides customers with, e-mail, unlimited Internet access and other various services using the StarScreen phone. SFNB will be StarTronix On-Line's exclusive Internet banking services provider.

The Internet bank, established in October 1995, is the brainchild of a company called Secureware that worked with the federal government to develop security for the B-1 bomber and for sensitive information, said Hope Flammer, vice president of marketing at the bank. Security for SFNB is based on that technology.

"In order to get [Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.] insurance, we had to prove that we were as safe as a regular bank," Flammer said. "We walked through our technology with [the FDIC], and because of our history with the defense department, we were granted insurance.

SFNB's software-based security system, Virtual Financial Manager, is based on the concept of information separation, a firewall and filtering router system that separates information into virtual vaults and establishes access criteria.

"We've set it up so that only certain people can do certain things, which is something we got from the government work," Flammer said. "When it comes to accessing bank information, there are a number of access controls so that more than one person has to be involved in getting information, depending on what security level they're on.

SFNB is licensing its security program to other financial companies through a subsidiary, Security First Technologies.

Other than a physical office in Atlanta to show customers how to do their banking over the Internet, SFNB is located entirely on the Internet.

The downside is that customers must find cash machines that don't charge a fee, a spokeswoman said, adding that SFNB will use smart card technology when it becomes available.