Identity Theft Prevention Bristol

With the recent scandal by the HMRC currently making headlines, businesses have been urged to take more responsibility in protecting customers’ personal details.

The study, by software company CA, revealed that almost two thirds of UK consumers had concerns over identity theft while online. For 84% of the 2000 adults surveyed ‘trust’ in an organisation dictated which websites they used. When asked who they trusted the most, banks and credit card companies came top with the government only getting a 25% vote of confidence.

The government yesterday announced that the HMRC had lost discs containing details of 15 million child benefit recipient’s personal details. The chancellor and prime minister faced questioning in the House of Commons over the incident, with the chancellor urging those affected to monitor their bank accounts.

Simon Perry, vice president at CA is not surprised that identity theft is a major concern for UK consumers. He added: “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.”

Two other major deciding factors for customers while online is the reputation of the company, cited by 71%, closely followed by 69% who believed that security certifications displayed on the website were important.

To combat online identity theft Perry believes urgent attention needs to be given to the issue.

He said: “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.”

© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007