E-Businesses Should Take Steps Now To Effectively Secure Consumer Data

摘要

Washington, D.C. ― Online businesses that store consumer information should follow best industry practices to ensure that the data is secure, and should have a strategy in place for reacting to a security breach, officials from the business and legal sectors told attendees at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on consumer information security May 20 in Washington. While some panelists urged companies to conduct a risk assessment to determine their weaknesses in securing consumer data, others said that a company shouldn't wait for the results of a risk assessment, but should act immediately to secure their sites, such as by backing up their information off-line and ensuring that their software is up to date. Vince Sollitto, vice president-external affairs and corporate communications for PayPal, Inc., said that because his company, which handles payment for person-to-person (P2P) e-commerce transactions, is a large repository of personal financial information, it is a prime target for hacker attacks, receiving some 500 attempts per day. However, the company has taken numerous steps to secure the personal information it collects, protecting the data with firewalls and strong encryption.