Some of you may have read about retail chain Target admitting that the data of more than 70 million customers being stolen before Christmas.
Now the US company is looking to spend $5m on protecting customers with a year of free credit and identity theft monitoring.
Sounds sensible, right?
But could this be a waste of money? I recently had a chat with Paul Zolfaghari, the president of MicroStrategy, a data analytics company, who thinks so. Hackers will always hack into secure networks, he told me.
"So a company like Target and other retailers have been challenged because at the end of the day, they have to store customers’ private information about an individual and their password and that’s the basis upon which the person is authorised to conduct the transaction."
Instead, the solution is to change around the payment process.
"When I’ve met with retailers and talked about this, the first thing they understand is when they don’t have to store a password, there’s nothing to hack, there’s nothing to steal," he added.
And guess what? Zolfaghari did not hesitate to mention how MicroStrategy’s Usher Identity platform could provide an alternative payment platform.
"One thing with this technology is we’re providing customers with the technology that allows them to conduct transactions without having to store and maintain passwords, which is the one really soft weakness that exists in organisations," he said.
Okay, so what to make of this contribution? It’s either a cunning way to sell his product or a legitimate contribution to the ongoing debate on cyber security. I’m inclined to think it’s a bit of both. But I’d be interested in your thoughts.
