In this modern technology driven world, accessibility to information is on everyone’s fingertips. But what happens when that information gets onto the wrong hands? Over the years, with the rapid development of technology, came bigger concerns, especially from security and privacy point of view.
Hackers had an easy way to configure pass people’s firewall system and for those users who didn’t secure or had weak security system, breach of information was inevitable. According to a recent report Preventing Fraud & Preserving CX with AI, almost 92% of Americans thought that the risk of fraud is increasing throughout their daily activities. Even if the web is secure, they still don’t feel comfortable in sharing their personal information. Fraud is destroying customer experience.
From the report, it was also gathered that the majority of Americans at 65% would not feel comfortable making a purchase via smart assistant like amazon Alexa or google assistant.
Online retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target are popular among Americans when shopping online. But despite the convenience, consumers are still afraid that someone will be able to steal their credit card and other valuable information.
And they got a good reason to be afraid!
According to the report, as much as 46% of Americans admitted they were victim of fraud. Snooping someone’s information online is an easy task for most hackers especially when security is not strong.
Yes, internet can be a dangerous place to shop, but in this modern era where everything is possible with a single click, how can you not shop from internet?
It’s not only with credit cards, the moment you use any online payment system other than cash, your information is at risk of being stolen by cyber-thieves.
Analyzing the report further, customers need to feel safe, confident, and comfortable when purchasing online but the companies aren’t making them feel that way. Around 86% of online buyers believe that companies can do more in effort to protect them from fraud. In addition to that, 28% of respondents believed that brands were not doing enough to protect their personal information securely. This in return creates a major trust issue.
The study also found that around 67% of customers trust their smartphone for communication, but 87% were still cautious to the fact that information shared over phone is vulnerable to fraud.
The concern is there for everyone to witness. Over the years there have been a number of major data breaches which involved people from all around the world. Forbes estimates that 4.1 billion records had been exposed by data breaches in the first half of 2019 alone! That’s a crazy amount of number as nearly 700 million data get exposed every month.
Some of the biggest data breaches over the years has involve top companies like: Fortnite, Facebook, Canva, Yahoo, and Marriott International, showing that no matter how strong your security can be, there is still way for hackers to get around your information on these sites. No one is safe.
Some suggestions on what companies can do to beef up their security is as follow:
- Update, update, update!! Keep up to date with the latest version of systems to deny hackers
- Encrypt data!! Encryption has proven to reduce the risk of data being stolen
- Always keep customers in the loop on the efforts to protect them including notification to update their app when possible
- Insure your customer data. In case of a breach occurring, there are cyber-crime and identity insurance companies that will protect consumers if their data is stolen
On the other side, here are some tips for consumers:
- Create a two-step authentication log in. this adds second layer of security in the form of a code which is sent to you. Facebook and Instagram together with many apps have started introducing 2 step authentication system to increase their security.
- Beware of public or free Wi-Fi spots. The warnings that your device gives when connecting to a public or free Wi-Fi shouldn’t be taken lightly. A lot of cyber-thieves or hackers are present in places that offers free Wi-Fi to grab your personal information
- Always change your passwords frequently.
The key for a great customer experience is confidence and trust. Whenever customers do business, you need to make sure that they are confident and comfortable in doing business with you. Eliminating their worries will ensure a rather smooth and happy customer experience when they do business with you. The moment that consumers starts having doubts on your ability to protect them, you will risk the sales, reoccurring business and the positive word of mouth all in which can drive your business down.
