In recent years, millions of people have fallen victim to retail data breaches, sometimes with devastating consequences. Naturally, customer privacy and security are top concerns for consumers when they’re shopping, especially online.
When it comes to protecting customers and defending against potential cyberattacks, one online retailer has earned top marks for trustworthiness for three years in a row.
The Online Trust Alliance named American Greetings as the most trustworthy online retail website for 2015 in its Online Trust Honor Roll. American Greetings bested 500 of the largest online retailers to earn the OTA’s top honor.
The OTA evaluates several data attributes and criteria related to online security threats to rate the online retailers. This year, 42 percent (212) of the 500 largest online retailers qualified for the OTA’s Honor Roll.
The OTA reported a 78 percent improvement over 2014, when a mere 24 percent of evaluated online retailers earned a spot on its honor roll. Still, 45 percent of the retailers not only failed to qualify for the honor roll, but they failed at least one component of the audit, which is usually a sign that a retailer is especially vulnerable to an existing online security threat, is not adequately protecting consumers from phishing threats or has insufficient privacy policies.
“The online threat landscape is constantly evolving, and our latest audit reflects that. Even companies with top scores on the honor roll last year would have failed this year had they not adopted the latest best practices,” OTA executive director and president Craig Spiezle said in a statement. “These practices are achievable for retailers of any size. We commend those retailers who took the necessary steps to ensure responsible data stewardship.”
OTA’s top 10 most trustworthy online retailers (actually 11 because of a scoring tie) for 2015 are:
- American Greetings
- Cabela’s
- Drs. Foster & Smith
- Fanatics
- GameStop
- The Honest Company
- Jomashop
- Kate Spade New York
- LivingSocial
- Netflix
- SparkFun Electronics
OTA said American Greetings and Netflix are the only two holdovers from last year’s top 10 list.
What do you think of OTA’s ratings? Who is your most trusted online retailer? Share your comments below.
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