News

Consumers rank social networks better than online businesses for ability to protect personal information

May 12, 2011

ThreatMetrix, a provider of cloud-based fraud prevention solutions that do not require personally identifiable information (PII), has announced that a joint study with the Ponemon Institute, an independent research company, shows that consumers are most wary of online businesses in regards to protecting their personal information.

Results across four industries showed consumers are most confident in banks, followed by credit cards and payment processors, and social networks. Consumers believe online businesses are the worst at protecting personal information.

“It’s logical that consumers should have the most confidence in the banking industry’s ability to protect their information online, as banks have a responsibility to protect their customers’ funds,” said Reed Taussig, president and CEO, ThreatMetrix. “Social networks, however, surprisingly have a higher consumer confidence ranking than online businesses in regards to protecting personal information. That represents a problem for the e-commerce industry, which relies on secure online transactions as the foundation of their business model.”

The report found that 88 percent of consumers would not do business with banks or credit card and online payment processors if they had doubts about their security measures. Seventy-seven percent said the same for online businesses, and 56 percent for social networks.

“Banks, online businesses, social networks and payment processors are all targets for fraudsters who phish their accounts for emails and passwords,” Taussig said. “Yet when you bring e-commerce transactions into the picture, consumers are still very wary about the security of that data. Banks understand the importance of communicating these fraud prevention measures, which online businesses must also do. It’s the first step to increase that level of confidence to the point where a consumer is willing to complete a transaction.”