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Retailers should put security top of their Christmas list

With British consumers spending more than £6.6 billion online in the last two months of last year, the 2007 festive season is set to be one of great cheer for online retailers. Although UK domestic card fraud is down 40 per cent since last year according to the Association for Payment Cleaning Services (APACS), the scene is not quite so cheery for online, phone and mail order fraud, which is up by 44 per cent (2006 - 2007). Internet security consultancy, NTA Monitor, is warning online retailers not to be complacent and urges them to tighten their security to help to prevent their customers falling victim to fraud.

Roy Hills, NTA's Technical Director, says: "Online retailers need to implement more stringent security policies to prevent the increase of card-not-present fraud or the general public will lose faith in purchasing over the Internet. There is no question that speedy delivery, ease of use and recommendations from social networks are all driving the growth of online retailing, but consumers will vote with their fingers if their festive shopping ends in tears."

While increasing numbers of online retailers are now taking precautions against hackers identifying credit card details in transit, there are still far too many which do not adequately protect themselves from cloned or stolen cards being used.

The Christmas story tells us about the three wise men who each brought gifts and NTA Monitor has three wise tips for online retailers:

  1. As well as the numbers on the front of the card, always get the last three digits on the reverse of the card (or four printed, not raised, on the front of American Express), as these are not found on receipts.
  2. Ask for the billing address as part of the transaction. If the delivery address differs from the billing address, send an order acknowledgement to the billing address to make sure that the card owner is aware of the purchase.
  3. Maintain strong security measures in key areas such as encryption, authentication and data sanitisation to avoid hackers gaining access to your customer data.

This article was first released on: 13th November 2007