Are security concerns hindering e-commerce?
Although the majority of Europe can connect to the internet, it is only a small number of people who are carrying out activities such as buying or paying bills online. It’s time we started making e-commerce more rewarding for consumers. Banks have fewer staff and fewer tellers, so people are using online banking because it’s straightforward. But there should be some incentive for doing things online. It won’t be one thing that makes e-commerce mainstream, it will be multiple factors. Will a single sign-on capability for web users play a role in this? Federated identity management, which allows internet users to access multiple sites using a trusted single sign-on, can help to spread the cost of two-factor authentication between firms and internet users. It will also help with the growth of e-commerce. Why can’t I log into AOL, go to the toolbar, click on my favourite sites and have AOL pass on that authentication to other trusted sites? In theory you could also use it to pass on certai
