Monday, November 28, 2005
Paying for Protection
Unisys conducted a survey of 1,000 Americans. The results showed nearly 40 percent are willing to pay more in fees for online banking transaction protections. This is up from 27 percent a year ago. Almost half of those surveyed said they would even switch banks to receive greater protections.
Consumer concerns are driven by fear of identity theft. 73 percent are now worried about this, according to the survey, as compared to 51 percent in 2004.
In a related note, in Wilmington, Del. a waitress was arraigned last week on charges of aggravated identity theft. Katsiaryna Kabiarets, faces a minimum of two years in jail and a possible fine of up to $250,000. She is accused of using a hand-held credit card reader to steal account numbers from her customers. She was offered $10 for Visa and MasterCard numbers and $15 for American Express. The latter being more valuable because they are reportedly easier to counterfeit. This is a disputed issue by some in the industry since swiping the magnetic stripe is the same. Instead, it may have to do more with credit balances available.
Joseph Ansanelli, Chief Executive Officer of the data security firm Vontu predicts identity theft by insiders will increase substantially next year. "Many retailers have not educated their employees on the value of customer information to the company, nor have they educated them on employee responsibilities towards protecting and correctly handling this information. One example would be the use of skimmers in restaurants. Several thefts have been reported due to wait staff taking the customers' credit card then running it through their skimmer in order to later be able to retrieve this number," said Ansanelli.
"Employees need to be aware of the value of this information to the company, and the ramifications of not treating this information according to the company policies. They also need to understand what they can do outside their roles to help protect this information and honor the company's security commitment to their customers" Ansanelli said.
Unisys conducted a survey of 1,000 Americans. The results showed nearly 40 percent are willing to pay more in fees for online banking transaction protections. This is up from 27 percent a year ago. Almost half of those surveyed said they would even switch banks to receive greater protections.
Consumer concerns are driven by fear of identity theft. 73 percent are now worried about this, according to the survey, as compared to 51 percent in 2004.
In a related note, in Wilmington, Del. a waitress was arraigned last week on charges of aggravated identity theft. Katsiaryna Kabiarets, faces a minimum of two years in jail and a possible fine of up to $250,000. She is accused of using a hand-held credit card reader to steal account numbers from her customers. She was offered $10 for Visa and MasterCard numbers and $15 for American Express. The latter being more valuable because they are reportedly easier to counterfeit. This is a disputed issue by some in the industry since swiping the magnetic stripe is the same. Instead, it may have to do more with credit balances available.
Joseph Ansanelli, Chief Executive Officer of the data security firm Vontu predicts identity theft by insiders will increase substantially next year. "Many retailers have not educated their employees on the value of customer information to the company, nor have they educated them on employee responsibilities towards protecting and correctly handling this information. One example would be the use of skimmers in restaurants. Several thefts have been reported due to wait staff taking the customers' credit card then running it through their skimmer in order to later be able to retrieve this number," said Ansanelli.
"Employees need to be aware of the value of this information to the company, and the ramifications of not treating this information according to the company policies. They also need to understand what they can do outside their roles to help protect this information and honor the company's security commitment to their customers" Ansanelli said.
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