CHICAGO, IL --(Marketwired - September 20, 2016) - A new survey from TransUnion (
TransUnion's survey of 1,033 adults also found that more than half of consumers (53%) say that they or a member of their household has already been a victim of identity theft, online fraud or had personal data stolen from a business or government agency.
"Identity theft and online fraud are rising at an alarming rate, putting a consumer's personal information at a greater risk to be compromised. This also puts businesses and government agencies at risk of being hacked by identities that have been stolen and sold on the dark web," said Jonathan McDonald, executive vice president of TransUnion's government information solutions business unit. "The TransUnion survey findings confirm the need for businesses and government agencies to do all they can to safeguard personal data entrusted to them and to provide greater certainty."
According to the survey, only 36% of consumers agree that government organizations and agencies truly understand and appreciate the pain and problems that a data breach of personal information can cause. More than half (52%) expressed concerns about what methods organizations and agencies are employing to prevent fraudsters from using their stolen identity to access systems to perpetrate a crime in their name.
Other key survey findings include:
- More than half (55%) of consumers would like government organizations to mandate increased authentication security beyond user passwords to prevent identity theft.
- Consumers ranked "two factor authentication using passwords" as the most important emerging technology government organizations should use to prevent identity theft, followed by "identity verification" and "biometrics and fingerprinting" solutions.
"Cyber criminals are getting smarter and more technically sophisticated making cybercrimes increasingly difficult to detect," said Jeffrey Huth, vice president of product strategy for TransUnion's government information solutions division. "When criminals impersonate a real person using a stolen identity to access an online system, traditional cyber-security measures will be ineffective."
TransUnion's Government Information Solutions division provides fraud, benefit eligibility verification, continuous evaluation services, identity authentication, data breach response, investigation services, and other key solutions to federal, state and local government agencies in the U.S. TransUnion's solutions help both private and government sector organizations manage risk and reduce costs.
For more information about TransUnion's Government Information Solutions division, please visit https://www.transunion.com/government . For additional insight, see our recent blog post: As Cyber Fraud Escalates, Defending Your Network Means More than Firewalls and Malware .
About TransUnion (
We call this Information for Good. http://www.transunion.com/business
Contact Dave Blumberg dblumbe@transunion.com 312-985-3059
