The Monday after Thanksgiving, also known as Cyber Monday, has become the busiest online shopping day of the year for American consumers. With the influx of online activity, companies should be aware of the higher-than-normal security threats such as unnecessary processing queries and identity theft.
Although retailers look forward to the boost in online sales revenue during the holiday season, it is no surprise that there has been an increase in fraudulent activity on the Web as a whole. In 2011, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than ?300,000 complaints (of crimes committed online), a 3.4 percent increase over the previous year. The adjusted dollar loss of complaints was $485.3 million.? Now, more than ever, companies must proactively work to secure the integrity of online sales transactions.
When making online purchases, consumers are often asked to provide personal information before the sale can be completed. After this information is provided, there are four ways that companies can validate consumers? information to ensure the security of the transaction.
Address Validation
The first validation method is through a customer?s address. Customer addresses can be verified, but companies face the difficulty of dealing with inconsistent information in a number of different fields of an address listing. For example, a customer might abbreviate the word street as ?St.? instead of spelling it out. The process of accurately aligning all of the information contained in a customer?s address with the exact term a company may use to verify that information can be a daunting task, and it is not the most effective method for validation.
Credit-Card Validation
Companies that choose to validate customer identity information for an online sales transaction via a customer?s credit-card number face potential challenges. When processing a transaction, the credit-card number is typically one of the last pieces of information collected from the customer at the point of the sale. For this reason, it is better to validate customers? identities with information they have provided earlier in the sales process than it is to run the sale with an incorrect credit-card number.
In the case where a credit-card charge is attempted and then invalidated, the business that is trying to process the card still has to pay the credit-card company a fee for the transaction. Businesses pay credit-card companies for processing a card whether it works or not. This can be an expensive way to determine if the customer and credit-card number are valid and is typically not the preferred method of customer identity validation.
Social Security Number Validation
Companies can also use a customer?s Social Security number to verify that their identity matches their payment information, but this segment of data has traditionally been one of the most difficult validation methods. Social Security numbers are very easy to falsify because the numbers are not readily available and there is no way to look them up unless one has access to government records.
Phone-Number Validation
A company can also verify customer information using the customer?s telephone number. This has proven to be one of the best ways to validate information for an online sale. This segment of information is seldom forged because phone numbers can easily be validated by almost anyone, simply by calling the number. The only drawback is that physically calling a phone number requires a great deal of time and manpower, making it a slow and expensive process.
This is where companies, such as Accudata Technologies, can help online retailers reduce some of the risks and fees associated with online purchases. Accudata?s automated service quickly validates a phone number, reducing the time and money wasted on less accurate, labor-intensive data validation services or?even worse?on bad leads.
Starting with a landline, voice-over-IP or wireless number, these kinds of automated services can confirm that the number entered by the consumer is operational and is correctly registered as of the previous 24 hours. The phone number is also linked to a variety of information sources about the customer that can be useful for validation. For example, a retailer can check if the last name, city or state associated with the phone number matches the information on the credit card. Retailers can also verify other types of information such as whether the number is a wireless or landline account. The more information a retailer may need, the more information it can get relative to a phone number.
These kinds of services can validate telephone numbers in real time, literally as users enter their information into online forms. To put the speed of validation into perspective, the information is verified in the same amount of time that it takes to make a phone call, which typically occurs in two to three seconds. This serves as a great deterrent to inaccurate or false information.
An example of this technology can be seen with payphone providers, inmate systems, operator services, wireless operators and hospitality services. Before connecting certain calls, these businesses must determine whether they will be able to collect payment for each call. If payment is unlikely, the provider can choose not to connect the call. Telephone service providers and wireless carriers rely on database-center validation to access and cross-reference information that will indicate the likelihood of payment.
As more and more people continue to forego a traditional landline and depend solely on their wireless phones, it is increasingly important for companies to validate the information tied to these numbers. This requirement becomes even more critical given the frequency with which mobile numbers change from user to user. Accudata?s ?AccuSure? service, for instance, can validate that the wireless numbers on file are still registered to the individual the company is trying to reach.
In the end, obtaining and using the customer?s phone number provides a safe and reliable first step for the identity validation process and a simple means to add security during online purchase transactions on Cyber Monday. This option is inexpensive compared with other alternatives, and is a great way for companies to improve the efficiency and safety of their sales processes while avoiding online fraud.
About the Author
Greg Smith is the chairman, president and CEO of Accudata Technologies. Upon joining Accudata (formerly Revenue Communications) in 2002 as CEO, Smith stabilized the company and began a rapid expansion into new markets by initiating the development of new technologies and services. Since Smith?s tenure began as CEO, Accudata has received more than 20 awards, including the Deloitte North America Fast 500, Texas Crescent Fast 50, DFW Fast 50, Southern Methodist University/Cox School of Business Dallas 100, Comerica Collin 60 and MTBC Tech Titans Emerging Company CEO.
Award-winning Accudata Technologies provides flexible access to data validation through innovative approaches to data transmission. The company serves as an access hub for validating information associated with traditional, mobile and IP-based telephone numbers. Its validation services include translating information between diverse protocols such as SS7, PSTN and IP via a patented process to access local-number portability and line information databases (LIDBs), calling name (CNAM) databases, billing name and address information, Internet lead validation and the aforementioned bankcard transaction verifications.
Source: http://www.datacenterjournal.com/it/database-security-on-cyber-monday/
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