UKFast security bulletin - February 2010

feature article

More than half of UK businesses class online fraud as serious concern

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57 per cent of UK businesses identify online fraud as one of the greatest threats to their business, according to CyberSource's sixth annual UK Online Fraud Report.

With merchants predicting an average loss of 1.8 per cent of their overall online revenue, payment fraud was identified as the cause for £400,000 in lost revenue across all businesses in 2009.

The theft of customer data was also highlighted by the report as an increasing concern for businesses with more than half of merchants now ranking it as a serious concern, compared to just six per cent in 2007.

Perhaps not surprising, considering the impact that data theft has had on a number of high profile brands, large businesses were found to be the most concerned by the threat (60 per cent). As the majority of consumers still believe that the responsibility of online security lies with retailers, they were also found to be increasingly concerned with implementing a payment security strategy to protect customers' personal details and to secure sensitive payment.

Dr Akif Khan, Head of Client and Technical Services at CyberSource, who co-authored the report, concluded, "If merchants are to capitalise on the opportunity for online growth in uncertain times, it is more important than ever before that they optimise their payment and fraud management processes.

"As ecommerce sales continue to grow, and some resources remain relatively fixed, merchants will face the challenge of screening more online orders, yet keeping rejection and fraud rates as low as possible.

"Significantly, consumers continue to view retailers as being primarily responsible for making online shopping safer. It is instead a collaborative effort, and one that requires continued investment from the many stakeholders, including government, police, banks, card schemes and payment vendors."

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Best regards,

The UKFast team