The non-profit Online Trust Alliance (OTA) Alliance anonymously reviewed more than 1,000 websites, ranking their safety and privacy practices. None of the sites reviewed knew about the test.
In the firm’s Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll for 2017 several US banks were amongst the worst for security and privacy. The business had both the serious failing grades and the inadequate “Honor Roll” recipients.
For firms to earn the Honor Roll award, they need to achieve an overall average of 80% or greater across three categories: customer protection, safety, and secrecy. A loser in any of the three crushes its chance entirely.
52% of the 1,000 sites examined qualified for the Honor Roll. It rates an overall 5% increase from 2016. “The internet market runs on data,” OTA originator Spiezle told NBC News. “If this data is not protected and users have adverse experiences, this eventually threatens the future increase and revenue potential of the internet.”
Look beyond now if you’re a US banking customer, as only 27% of the 100 biggest banks in the nation made the grade. The number represents a 28% decrease from 2016. According to the OTA, the area had been showing symptoms of improvement. Yet, due to “increased breaches, low isolation scores and low levels of email authentication,” things have moved.
The American Bankers Association (ABA) disputes the results. Doug Johnson, senior vice president of payments and cyber security policy at the ABA, told NBC that banks “we absolutely take privacy and security very seriously”.
The ABA requires that OTC figures indicating 24% of banks begot a data breach in 2016 are false. “We’ve always been viewed at as a model for security,” added Johnson, “held out as a template for other sectors to endure by in terms of security.”
Famously hacked more times after it declared it was taking part in 2015’s CyberSecurity Awareness Month, the ABA announcement might not be a large comfort. “The ABA takes data security very seriously,” a timid statement from the organization read at the time. “We also acknowledge that despite important security measures, breaches can and do occur.”
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