Why Aren't Online Retailers More Concerned About Security?
Online shopper loyalty is typically built on convenience, free shipping and good prices, but if credit card information is stolen or e-mail hacked due to poor security practices, all the other stuff goes for naught. Brand confidence that takes years to build can collapse in seconds. As obvious as this sounds, a recent audit found that three quarters of online retailers have not yet adopted online security and privacy best practices.
At the recent IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference & Expo) in Chicago, the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), a non-profit industry group, announced its 2013 Online Trust Honor Roll. The list is based on over 700 audits of domains with regard to excellence in privacy, security and consumer protection.
Thirty-two percent of companies audited made the Honor Roll, with Twitter having the best overall score and American Greetings ranking number one for internet retailers. Rounding out the top ten e-commerce sites (actually eleven, due to a tie) were Amazon, Big Fish Games, Bike Bandit, Books-A-Million, iHerb, JackThreads, Levenger Co., Living Social, Netflix, Ralph Lauren and Rock Auto.
Twenty-six percent of the Internet Retailer 500 made the list, but 53 percent failed to achieve even passing scores in one or more categories. The OTA says there were 2,644 reported security breaches worldwide (not just in retail) in 2012, exposing 367 million consumer records.
Yet, there are signs of progress. Thirty-eight percent of the top 100 online retailers made the grade this year, vs. 32 percent last year, driven by higher SSL (secure socket layer) scores, indicating improvement in site security and privacy policies. Do Not Track browser settings (DNT) are not yet a significant trend as only one site (Twitter) across all audited sites has adopted this standard. And while nearly seven percent of studied organizations had a breach incident in the last two years, less than three percent of the Internet Retailer 500 experienced an incident.