Restoring Trust
By Stephanie Jordan
Our world has become increasing reliant on the Internet. Businesses run on it, consumers rely on it and boundaries are removed by it. This medium has a tremendous amount of promise, and seemly-unlimited potential for innovation. But can we trust it? Consumer Reports recently published its 2007 State of the Net. Not surprisingly the survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center reveals that the risk associated with using the Internet remains high. The four leading online hazards included spam, viruses, spyware and phishing. The survey noted the national incidence ratio for spam was one in two would experience high levels of spam. For viruses, one in five will have a major and costly problem—with a total damage of US$3.3 billion. The spyware stat is one in 11 to have a major and costly problem—with a total damage of US$1.7 billion. Lastly, phishing remains high. The report cites 23,000 attacks in April of 2007, with one in 81 losing money from an account, with total damage of US$2.1 billion. While enterprises have been aware of the threats for a long time, consumers are becoming savvier to online dangers.
In late August, Cloudmark, Inc., released the results of its nationwide poll conducted on its behalf by Harris Interactive, which revealed that 89 percent of U.S. online adults are equally or more concerned about becoming a phishing victim than they were last year. Nevertheless, according to the poll, online adults still engage in at least one of the five major activities that often lead to being the victim of a phishing attack. Among those who indicated that they are more concerned about phishing attacks, some have actually changed their behavior by decreasing certain online activities. This change can negatively impact online business and transactions: 29 percent only use certain credit cards or accounts when they shop online; 21 percent only pay certain bills online; and 20 percent have decreased the frequency of their online shopping. There is also a growing concern among consumers of malware (other than phishing). For example, consumers are more concerned about viruses (38 percent), spyware (35 percent) and spam (30 percent) than they were last year. The Cloudmark survey was conducted online within the United States in August among 2,215 U.S. adults aged 18 or older.
"The reason email is the killer app is because it helps people reach out, all over the world, any time of day, to all kinds of people, and stay connected," says Dave Champine, senior director of product marketing for Cloudmark. "Unfortunately, this also makes for a natural target for attackers. Something that cuts across so many demographics and is so pervasive is obviously a great place to perpetrate some type of crime. As the volume of legitimate use has increased, so too has the volume of illegitimate use." It has been unfortunate, that the sophistication of illegitimate use has been so dramatic. What Cloudmark has seen (and is verified by the Harris Poll results) is not a change in people's fundamental behavior or their reliance on email as a communications channel. They see that users are more aware of the threats. "Consumer awareness has increased regarding taking care not to open an application, and looking for ways to validate and authenticate what is in their inbox. Which is where we come in," explains Fran Maier, executive director for TRUSTe. TRUSTe works to advance privacy and trust for a networked world. Through its Web Privacy Seal, Email Privacy Seal and Trusted Download Program, TRUSTe helps consumers and businesses identify trustworthy online organizations. TRUSTe certifies more than 2,500 websites, including major Internet portals and leading brands such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Nestle, Intuit and eBay among many others. "It is very confusing to consumers," continues Maier. "They are looking for signposts, and ideally would like the problem to just go away. Consumers are so busy managing their spam filters, and virus filters that the idea of managing spyware too can be overwhelming."