According to John Thompson, CEO of Symantec, if a trustworthy digital environment cannot be established, not only the growth of e-business but the entire economy will be hindered.
“While large-scale attacks on the Internet are not frequent, customers are increasingly losing trust in computer networks. This is a genuine concern“, Thompson warns.
He believes that the line between traditional business and online business has been erased, as every company needs the digital world to operate at least one part, such as delivery or communication with partners.
However, about 41% of customers are currently engaging in fewer online transactions than before due to fears of exposing their financial information. According to statistics from Symantec, approximately 150 million phishing emails are disseminated daily. Victims of phishing lost around $680 million last year and spent 300 million hours to recover from the damages.
Thompson commends Microsoft for its support of the Windows operating system and expresses satisfaction that consumers are becoming more aware and starting to install security software. “If business executives want the digital economy to thrive, they need to ensure the information generated is secure and take responsibility when it is stolen,” Thompson emphasizes.
He believes that search engines can contribute to enhancing customer trust by providing a user-rated security ranking system alongside each search result. He also calls on governments to pass common transaction laws to protect Internet users.
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