Provide your customers a secure and trustworthy online experience

white paper
Security and Trust:
The Backbone of Doing Business
over the Internetwhite paper
Contents + Introduction 3
+ E ncryption Technology and SSL Certificates 4 Levels of Encryption and SGC 5 Levels of Authentication and Trust 5
+ Extended Validation (EV) is the New Standard for Trust 7
+ VeriSign SSL Certificates, for the Strongest Security and Trust 9
+ Conclusion 10 white paper
Security and Trust:
The Backbone of Doing Business
over the Internet
+ Introduction Gaining the trust of online customers is vital for the success of any company that requires sensitive data to be provided over the Web. In e-commerce, consumers are concerned about identity theft and are therefore justifiably leery of providing untrusted sources with their personal information, especially their credit card numbers to pay for transactions. Other types of online businesses require different but equally sensitive information. People are reluctant to provide their social security numbers, passwords, health and other confidential personal information, or sometimes even just name, address, and phone number. Perhaps the information will be intercepted in transit, they fear, or perhaps the destination itself is manned by imposters with ill intent. The result for many wary consumers is an abandoned transaction. In fact, TNS Research reported in 2006 that 70% of online shoppers have abandoned a purchase because of security concerns. Others may overcome their fears enough to make small purchases but limit the size of their transactions for fear the money they spend will be pocketed and nothing delivered in return.Such consumer fears are very well founded. In 2007, an estimated $3.6 billion in online 1revenues was lost to online fraud-up more than 16% from 2006. The total number of unique phishing reports submitted to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) 2in January 2008 was 29,284, an increase of nearly 9% from the previous month.Online businesses have much to gain by taking steps to overcome customer fears. Concern about Internet fraud is a very big deterrent to sales. TNS Research reported in August 2006 that 87% of online shoppers are concerned about credit card fraud and that 83% are concerned about sharing personal information. Since fears of scams limit not only the number of transactions conducted but also their size, the potential business that can be reaped by building trust is huge indeed.Consumers too have much to gain from hurdling the trust barrier. The convenience of online shopping cannot be beat, nor can the prices. Often a consumer shopping for a particular item finds it not only on a trusted Web site but also on another site that charges less or offers other advantages. Wouldn't consumers be better off if there were a way to quickly gain trust in the off-brand site? But fear of identity theft (felt by 85% of shoppers, according to TNS Study, August 2006) clearly inhibits many from taking advantage of these benefits-in fact, according to Forrester Research in December, 2006, 24% do not purchase online at all.Fortunately technology is in place today that helps online businesses protect sensitive customer data, authenticate themselves, and build consumer trust-technology that also helps customers differentiate trustworthy Web sites from clones produced by scam artists intent on malfeasance.
1 Cybersource, "9th Annual Online Fraud Report," 2008 2 APWG, "Phishing Activity Trends," January 2008
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This paper explores the current state of this technology and the contributions VeriSign Inc. is making to help organizations protect critical data and instill trust for their customers. It begins with encryption and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the technology that addresses the most obvious and oldest problem in online business-the susceptibility of data in transit to interception by cybercriminals. But with the rising sophistication of Internet crooks, encryption is no longer enough. Therefore this paper proceeds to present the issues of authentication and trust building that have more recently grown critical and the Extended Validation (EV) SSL technology that addresses these issues. Finally, it presents VeriSign® solutions that deliver the utmost in all these security technologies.
+ Encryption Technology and SSL Certificates Customers know that any information they submit to ... [download for more]