E-commerce: How to build customer trust without sacrificing security

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We each cognize the drill: Passwords are hard to retrieve and manage, truthful we reuse passwords crossed aggregate services and devices, which often includes utilizing the aforesaid passwords and computing devices astatine enactment and astatine home. 

SEE: Google Chrome: Security and UI tips you request to know  (TechRepublic Premium)

This evidently helps employees and customers, but what whitethorn not beryllium evident is the effect connected businesses and lawsuit relations if leaked reused passwords assistance facilitate a information breach. Now tack connected the tremendous uptick successful online buying this clip of the year, and we person a cleanable tempest brewing. 

Striking a balance 

Jim Taylor, main merchandise serviceman astatine SecurID, successful an email conversation, offered immoderate thoughts connected however precocious absorption and those liable for a company's cybersecurity and lawsuit privateness tin marque beingness much hard for integer atrocious guys portion remaining convenient for employees and customers.

Balancing information and convenience is particularly important for retailers, who request to support spot without adding undue inconvenience, which could thrust paying customers away. "To find this balance, businesses request to supply an individuality level that works nevertheless and whenever its users do—and crossed antithetic operating systems and devices," Taylor said. "Businesses tin besides marque it easier and safer for users to authenticate by eliminating passwords and utilizing risk-based authentication to simplify verification." Risk-based authentication falls nether the umbrella of continuous oregon contextual authentication, which is broader successful scope.

By verifying that users are who they assertion to be, authentication helps guarantee lawsuit privacy. "Customers should expect that businesses necessitate authentication for definite requests, specified arsenic viewing transportation information, placing orders, changing recognition paper accusation oregon reviewing erstwhile transactions," Taylor said. "Customer authentication besides helps businesses unafraid their operations and guarantee customers tin spot oregon way orders but not log into the firm network."

SEE: Password breach: Why popular civilization and passwords don't premix (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Something not ever considered is that employees and customers whitethorn usage caller devices to log successful and registry for services, which successful crook increases the likelihood of users needing password resets. "These are immoderate of cybercriminals' favourite situations: the precocious grade of alteration and the resulting disorder distract and accent information teams, providing hackers with cover," Taylor said. "Risk-based authentication tin assistance businesses hole for these high-risk situations with policies that accommodate to the moment. They tin besides usage context-aware authentication to commencement learning what 'normal' looks similar for each idiosyncratic to harden their information posture."

Authentication, according to Taylor, needs to look and consciousness similar a earthy hold of the wide brand, arsenic good arsenic beryllium seamless and accordant crossed each channels, from the web to mobile. He besides recommended that businesses enactment with vendors who tin accommodate their solutions to the businesses' environment—not the different mode around.

Holiday buying changes everything

To enactment it simply, consumers thin to enactment otherwise during the holidays—stepping extracurricular their emblematic signifier box. For example, consumers, erstwhile buying successful person, grip disorder comparatively well. Shopping successful brick-and-mortar stores allows america to integrate cues and different accusation to find whether we spot idiosyncratic capable to bash concern with them. Some examples are:

• Does the income clerk person a sanction tag? 
• Does the idiosyncratic assisting person the aforesaid azygous arsenic different clerks? 
• Have my friends shopped present before? 
• What person my friends' experiences been? 
• Do the income clerks look to cognize what they're talking about?

Shopping online is precise different. Cues and applicable accusation are hard to travel by, frankincense making it hard to marque judgments and physique trust. "It's conscionable arsenic hard for retailers, who request to found spot astir instantaneously to triumph a customer's business," Taylor said. "E-commerce leaders survey the rate of abandonment, which shows however often customers locomotion distant from making an online acquisition and the factors that lend to that decision." 

For example:

• Over 50% of online shoppers volition wantonness a tract if they person to hold 3 seconds for the leafage to load. 
• Over 60% of online shoppers mislaid involvement successful creating an relationship owed to password requirements.
• Nearly 40% of mobile users abandoned their cart erstwhile it became excessively hard to participate their idiosyncratic information.

Regarding the 50% who get impatient waiting for a leafage to load, Taylor offered immoderate advice:

"I'd inquire consumers—particularly consumers buying astatine a caller retailer—to springiness e-commerce sites a small longer than 3 seconds. Your integer persona is valuable, and however you'll correspond yourself successful immoderate fig of online interactions."

Continual oregon contextual authentication

One mode retailers and customers tin physique spot successful each different is done continuous oregon contextual authentication, exertion that replicates the real-world process of reacting to and processing societal cues and further accusation erstwhile interacting with different people. "Businesses tin look astatine maine and spot that Jim is connected a instrumentality he's utilized before, logging successful from an IP code that we recognize, buying for a merchandise akin to what he's utilized successful the past, and he's online during a clip wherever we'd expect him to beryllium awake," Taylor said. "Continuously assessing and reacting to those factors should springiness the retailer immoderate assurance that I americium who I accidental I am, and that I'm the 1 who is spending my money."

E-commerce is comparatively new, which means unexpected—thus uncontrolled—variables tin participate the equation. "But what we tin power is identity," Taylor said. "And, it's worthy your clip and concern to enactment with retailers that instrumentality attraction to support your accusation and verify you are who you assertion to be." 

Also see

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• How to go a cybersecurity pro: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework: A cheat expanse for professionals (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
• What are mobile VPN apps and wherefore you should beryllium utilizing them (TechRepublic Premium)
• Cybersecurity and cyberwar: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic connected Flipboard)