Singaporean top online sites fail to protect consumers
ConvergenceAsia staff
06/10/2009

The Online Trust Alliance (OTA), which provides business and industry with the latest information to facilitate the deployment and implementation of email authentication, has released the results of the Singaporean Online Trust Scorecard, which examines how well Singaporean online sites fare against their international peers in protecting consumer interests and brand reputation.

OTA's scorecard showed that only 30 per cent of the Top 100 visited websites in Singapore authenticated email whilst only 2 per cent secured their online transactions with EV SSL. In comparison, Fortune 100 companies authenticate 55 per cent of email and 9.3 per cent of online transactions with EV SSL.

Craig Spiezle, Executive Director of OTA said, “Whilst on a regional basis, Singapore’s results are above average, on a global basis, there remains a significant opportunity for improvement.”

Authentication is a critical building block which the internet industry uses to distinguish between real senders of an email and fraudsters. Authenticated emails from Singaporean companies would help separate legitimate emails from those which are ‘spoofed’ or are phishing attacks. It would also improve email deliverability by reducing loss of legitimate emails (false positives), a growing problem for both consumers and businesses alike.

Commenting on the Scorecard, Manish Goel, CEO of BoxSentry and Director of OTA said, “As an ICT leader in the region, Singapore has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership by adopting international standards quickly.” He added, “While the government and education sectors were above the national average, FSI and commercial organisations have significant room to improve results.”

OTA has published the Online Trust Principles, a set of global guidelines for preserving and enhancing consumer trust and confidence. OTA concludes that early adopters who demonstrate online citizenship will realise brand differentiation and a sustainable competitive advantage through increased consumer trust.

While intended to thwart abuse and enhance data security, OTA’s Online Principles also help preserve the benefits consumers receive from online resources, such as access to free content, email and related services which are extensively used.

“With the onslaught of deceptive email and online crime, it is incumbent on all leading organisations to adopt these principles to not only help protect their customers but also their digital brands,” added Spiezle. “Left unchecked, we risk a consumer trust meltdown.”

The Direct Marketing Association of Singapore is in full support of OTA’s Online Trust Principles. Creating and protecting consumer trust is at the heart of direct marketing best practices, it is the key to differentiating and winning in the marketplace, said Lisa Watson, Chairman of Direct Marketing Association of Singapore. “We are currently taking the steps necessary to make them part of our code.”

OTA is governed by a Board and Steering Committee including Bank of America, BoxSentry, Datran Media, Epsilon, Goodmail Systems, Iconix, Internet Identity, Intersections, Lashback, Cisco Systems, MarkMonitor, Message Systems, Microsoft, McAfee, Publishers Clearing House, Return Path, Secunia, Symantec and VeriSign.

An updated scorecard will be published in early 2010, which will list out the Top 100 Singaporean organisations and their compliance status with email authentication and EV SSL (for online transactions) standards.
OTA Principles can be viewed at https://www.otalliance.org/resources/principles.html.

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