Data is not protected very effectively, according to a recent report.
In online stores, identification methods vary. Adobe Stock / AOP
In Finland, only every other company protects its customers’ data properly, according to a Nordic comparison published by Identisure, a supplier of strong identification services.
The survey tested the reliability of the customer information management of large online trading companies. The report examined how the customer’s identity is verified via e-mail, customer chat or telephone contact.
– In many cases, the means to reliably verify the customer’s identity online were completely missing. In Finland, only every second company protected its customers’ data properly, Identisure’s sales director Otto Harinen says in the announcement.
– Almost half of the Finnish companies that protected the data justified the decision with GDPR rules or appealed to the customer’s data protection. Although this only corresponds to about one in four companies, the use of these terms is a positive sign, and bodes well for the future. But a significant change will probably only be achieved when negligently operating companies are fined for slipping from their data protection responsibility, says Harinen.
Based on the test results, Norwegian companies protect the data of their e-commerce customers most effectively. In Norway, only about one in five companies gave access to customer data if the customer’s identity could not be reliably identified, while in Denmark only four out of ten companies required identification as a customer in a reliable way before accessing customer data.
The survey was carried out in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark by contacting 50 local well-known companies in each country. In Finland, e.g. bank IDs or mobile certificates were classified as reliable means of authentication. If the authentication only took place using publicly available information, such as a postal address, it was not counted as a reliable means of identification.