Protect your Customers with EV SSL Certificates
VIDEO: Maximize Customer Trust and Transactions with Extended Validation
WHITE PAPER: Fraud Alert: Phishing — The Latest Tactics and Potential Business Impacts 2012
As one of the top cyber crime ploys impacting both consumers and businesses, phishing has remained a consistently potent threat over the past several years. In fact, the cumulative number of phishing attacks recorded in 2011 represented a 37 percent increase over 2010.[2] The impact on businesses can be quite severe. RSA estimated in its October 2011 Fraud Report that the worldwide losses from phishing attacks cost more than $520 million in the first half of 2011 alone.
It’s a growing problem as phishing attacks become more sophisticated and new techniques to outwit customers such as: spear phishing, vishing, watering-holes, smishing, and context-aware phishing are on the rise. Countermeasures such as block/allow lists, heuristics, password management mechanisms, and mutual authentication are some of the tools within our arsenal. As your role in being the trusted advisor for your clients, creating a multi-level strategy against phishing that includes website security solutions from Symantec, GeoTrust, and Thawte is crucial to maintaining their reputation online.
For many of your clients, fear surrounding fraud remains a barrier to their online business; customers are hesitant to place orders online and shopping carts are left deserted. In 2011, one in every 300 emails transmitted over the Web was related to phishing.[3] Many of the current phishing techniques rely on driving shoppers to spoofed Web sites to capture personal information. Educating your clients about technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Extended Validation (EV) SSL with the green address bar is critical in fighting phishing and other forms of cyber crime because it encrypts sensitive information and helps your customers authenticate their sites.
Your clients should understand that unlike standard SSL certificates, EV certificates verify the organization requesting the certificate is officially registered, that it owns the domain in question, and that the person requesting the certificate is acting on behalf of the organization. This involves checking government records, contacting the domain’s owner, and contacting the organization to verify that the person requesting the certificate works for the organization. EV certificates are, fundamentally, a way for your clients with online businesses to build trust and remain protected against imposters which in turn keeps their customers safe as well.
The trust built with EV SSL Certificates from Symantec, Thawte, and GeoTrust Website Security Solutions translates into measurable benefits, including an increase in sales, a spike in conversions, and a drop in abandoned shopping cart rates. In a recent study investigating security concerns of online shoppers 94 percent of respondents are likely to continue an online purchase when they view the Norton Secured Seal during checkout, more than when our competitors’ trust seals or no seal is displayed. [4] EV SSL Certificates from Symantec, Thawte, and GeoTrust offer your customers a proven safeguard against phishing scams that lure unsuspecting internet users to sites that can appear almost identical to genuine Web pages. Identity thieves use these fraudulent look-alike pages to capture credit card numbers, passwords and other valuable personal information. When visiting sites protected by Symantec, GeoTrust, and Thawte EV SSL certificates, internet users with compatible high security Internet browsers see a green address bar. The green address bar tells consumers they have reached a Web site whose authenticity has been verified by Symantec, GeoTrust, or Thawte and this brings your clients’ customers peace of mind.
Symantec helped lead the development of Extended Validation and as of January 2012 has issued more EV SSL Certificates than any other Certificate Authority. Our rigorous authentication practices set the standard for online identity assurance and are audited by KPMG. Continuous investment in research and infrastructure helps Symantec maintain the highest standard of practice in the industry and stay well ahead of evolving security risks.
There are numerous links and marketing assets contained within this article. Please use on your own corporate websites and marketing campaigns to further educate your client accounts on what they can do to protect themselves from phishing attacks.
[1] Counterfeiting & Spear Phishing — Growth Scams of 2009, Trade Me, Infonews.co.nz, March 2, 2009
[2] RSA: October Fraud Report, RSA, October 2011
[3] RSA: October Fraud Report, RSA, October 2011
[4] Symantec U.S. Consumer Research, March 2011
