14 DAY TRIAL // CA and YouGov today released a survey concerning the online security in UK, revealing that no less than 70 percent of the respondents admitted the identity theft is pretty serious and it's often changing the virtual world. The research included 2000 UK residents, 64 percent of them considering that web-companies should struggle harder to protect their customers and their sensitive information. However, it's a well-known fact that some companies are trusted much more than others, the study revealing that 71 of the respondents trust a service because of its brand. In addition, 69 percent of them are influenced by the security certification published on the official websites on the companies/services.
"This survey clearly shows that online Identity Theft remains a major concern for UK consumers. This is not surprising considering that more than 170,000 cases of Identity Theft have been reported in the past 18 months. Consumers still need to be convinced that rigorous steps are being taken to ensure their data is protected and that security is at the top of the agenda. The onus is clearly on organisations offering online services to improve the way they manage their customers' personal details or risk damage to their reputation and loss of business," Simon Perry, Vice President, Security Strategy at CA, said according to SecureIt Online.
In case you're wondering which web-companies are most trusted, the banks are the leaders with 60 percent of the respondents while the credit card service comes the second with 40 percent. The next positions were won by the government - 25 percent, the online retailers - 19 percent and Internet service providers with 8 percent.
"To further combat online Identity Theft, an area which needs urgent attention is breach notification laws. In the USA, consumers are notified as soon as there has been a data breach relating to their personal details. This places an additional mandated obligation for organisations to not only do everything in their power to minimise online fraud, but also demonstrate transparency in their execution of their efforts. This requirement currently doesn't exist in the UK," the same CA official added for the source mentioned above.