|
By Cara Garretson
Consumers around the globe are becoming slightly less concerned about security threats, but the two issues that remain worrisome are bank-card fraud and identity theft. Those concerns have lead to greater acceptance of biometrics to verify identity, according to software and services provider Unisys.
These findings come from Unisys’ bi-annual Security Index research (view full report here; registration may be required), published this week, which was conducted in nine countries and included close to 8,300 respondents. Concerns over bank-card fraud and identity theft have ranked as the No. 1 consumer concern since Unisys began the study in 2007.
In its research, Unisys gauges how concerned consumers are about national security, financial security, Internet security and personal security. On a scale of 0 to 300, where 0 represents no concern regarding security and 300 represents extreme concern, respondents of the most recent Index scored 119, representing a moderate level of concern, according to Unisys. Overall, respondents were most concerned with financial threats, with national and personal threats tying for second place, and Internet threats last.
"By a large margin, people consistently worry more about identity theft and bankcard fraud than about other threats," says the report, which may explain why financial threats emerged as the top concern.
Javelin Strategy & Research reported that the number of identity theft cases in the U.S. jumped 22 percent to 9.9 million; however the cost per incident fell by 31 percent.
Unisys is using its findings to highlight the acceptance of biometric methods – such as retinal and fingerprint scans – instead of more traditional passwords and PIN codes for verifying identity. Unisys offers a services and consulting practice that helps organizations implement identification technology based on biometrics, among other things.
Regarding biometrics, the survey asked "If you were guaranteed that the biometric you provided would be secure, would you be willing or not willing to use this form of identification?" Of the respondents, 66 percent said they would be willing to use biometrics.
The survey adds that 95 percent of U.K. respondents who said they would be willing to provide biometric data to verify their identity said they would do so via fingerprint scan, while 90 percent said they would allow a retinal scan, and 82 percent said they would agree to a facial scan.
"Consumers worldwide seem to be growing more comfortable with the idea of using advanced and sometimes unfamiliar technologies to secure their identities as a way to prevent fraud," said Mark Cohn, vice president of enterprise security with Unisys, in a written statement. "Given the concern about bank fraud and identity theft, it is not surprising that people would embrace new ways to protect themselves. But we were somewhat surprised by the wide acceptance of biometrics such as iris recognition and facial scans, technologies which consumers were more familiar with than we might have predicted."
The research was conducted with consumers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
