May 26, 2009
Do you worry about sending sensitive financial data over the Internet? If so, you're hardly alone, but a new study by the Identity Theft Resource Center says your concern might be misplaced.
The study of on-line safety awareness found that an overwhelming 85 percent of the respondents expressed significant concern about the safety of sending information over the Internet.
Just 15 percent said they are "not very concerned" or "not at all concerned."
While the survey would seem to indicate that consumers feel that the transmission of the information is more risky than the ultimate storage and protection of the information, the opposite is really the case.
This indicates a lack of awareness in IRTC's sample population of the very large "cloud" that hangs over the security of thousands of business and other databases, and the impact of theft, data exposure, or even sale of information.
More than half of those asked expressed a need for improvement in the protection of their data. When asked if there was a way to shop, make purchases, pay bills, or login to websites on the Internet without needing to give any of your personal or financial information, 96 percent answered they were at least somewhat interested, while 68 percent were "extremely" or "very" interested.
"It is clear that the root problem, and the cause of consumer fear in online transactions, is the concern that their information will somehow be stolen or used fraudulently," the authors write.
As further discussed in the 2009 Consumer Awareness Survey, ITRC agrees that merchants do have a need to be confident of the identity of the consumer, and of their ability to pay for products or to access financial records.
However, the basis of this problem seems to be: Is there a way of improving online information security?
One solution to this problem would be a method that, without using personal information, authenticates a transaction and insures payment, yet allows the purchase to go forward. Such a method would remove most of the driving force for online collection of massive amounts of sensitive personal information.
The benefits would be an increase in customer trust, and would provide a greater measure of confidence for the merchants. Merchants would be assured of payment while incurring less liability for the collection and storage of sensitive information.
This means a new class of products should be developed that allows the consumer to control the use of all their sensitive personal information, whether shopping, paying bills online, or registering at websites.
ITRC would classify these types of products as "Secure Payment Agents." They would have the ability to replace all of the user's real personal information with anonymous data that becomes useless after a transaction. These products would allow consumers to use the Internet without exposing sensitive information.
This would create a win-win situation for businesses and consumers. Use of Secure Payment Agents would limit the impact of data breaches, misuse of personal identifying information, and the illicit use of credit/debit card information.
