COLUMBIA, MD — (Marketwired) — 06/05/13 — , the global leader in digital messaging software, today announced it has been named to the ) for demonstrating exceptional data protection, privacy and security in an effort to better protect their customers and brand from the increased threats of cybercriminals.
OTA, a nonprofit organization that works collaboratively with industry leaders to enhance online trust, completed comprehensive audits analyzing more than 750 domains and privacy policies, approximately 10,000 web pages and more than 500 million emails for this report. The composite analysis included over a dozen attributes focusing on 1) site and server security, 2) domain, brand, email and consumer protection, and 3) privacy policy and practices. In addition to the in-depth analysis of their websites, Domain Name Systems (DNS), outbound emails and public records were analyzed for recent data breach incidents and FTC settlements. Key sectors audited include the Internet Retailer 500, FDIC 100, Top 50 Social Sites as well as OTA members.
“Consumers are trading billions of pieces of personal data in exchange for desired services. They rely on the integrity of the businesses collecting and storing this information to protect them,” said Craig Spiezle, president and executive director of the Online Trust Alliance. “We are very pleased with the voluntary level of adoption many consumer-facing websites implemented this year that went above and beyond baseline compliance.”
“Email remains a vital communication channel that businesses can leverage to acquire new customers and maintain existing relationships,” said Ralph Lentz, chief revenue officer at Message Systems. “We strive to provide our customers with safe and secure digital messaging through the support of industry-wide initiatives such as DMARC. It is an honor to have our efforts recognized by the Online Trust Alliance.”
Nearly a third of the companies reviewed made the Honor Roll, including Message Systems. The report indicates that company size and/or sales are not true measures of the level of security and privacy a company implements. “All companies are equally evaluated by the same criterion regardless of size. We have seen large e-retailers with significant sales fail to make the Honor Roll; conversely we have seen small to mid-size companies taking top grades,” said Spiezle.
Started in 2005 as an effort to drive adoption of best practices, the Honor Roll is an annual program that seeks to 1) recognize leadership and commitment to best practices which aid in the protection of online trust and confidence in online services, 2) enable businesses to enhance their security, data protection and privacy practices, 3) move from compliance to stewardship, demonstrating support of meaningful self-regulation, and 4) promote security and privacy as part of a company-s brand promise and value proposition.
Being named to the 2013 Honor Roll is a significant achievement considering the large number of companies that received failing marks for inadequate domain and consumer protection (14%), insecure websites (7%) and inadequate privacy policies or data collection practices (36%).
To review the full 2013 Honor Roll report, please download a free copy at:
(OTA)
The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) is a non-profit with the mission to enhance online trust, while promoting innovation and the vitality of the internet. Our goal is to help educate businesses, policy makers and stakeholders while developing and advancing best practices and tools to enhance the protection of users- security, privacy and identity. OTA supports collaborative public-private partnerships, benchmark reporting, meaningful self-regulation and data stewardship.
Message Systems solutions power many of the world-s largest, most complex email, text and cross-channel messaging operations. Our solutions enable companies to integrate messaging with any number of data sources and applications in order to orchestrate real-time two-way customer interactions through any messaging stream. The result is more effective customer communication that boosts engagement, drives down costs, increases revenue and builds closer relationships. Message Systems is the leading provider of messaging infrastructure to the world-s largest social networks and e-businesses, including Facebook, and many Fortune 500 leaders in banking, consumer technology and telecommunications. Founded in 1997, Message Systems is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and maintains offices around the globe. For more information follow us on Twitter or go to
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