Security is topic one with many of our financial services clients. Consider our Client Choice balloting, which enables clients to determine what we'll write about next. Every time a security topic appeared on a financial services ballot this year, it clobbered the competition.

Fraud Concerns Run High
This month's Client Choice has some scary data: Phishing concerns have caused 26% of online consumers to not apply online for a financial product and 14% to stop using online banking and bill pay. In "Phishing Concerns Impact Consumer Online Financial Behavior," Catherine Graeber recommends that firms educate consumers and extend fraud protection guarantees to keep the online channel vital.

What else should firms do? In "Strong Authentication Made Simple," financial services security guru Jonathan Penn counsels banks and others to look to low-cost, easy-to-use products like Entrust IdentityGuard to protect consumers against phishing attacks and password-catching spyware.

Best Practices In Information Security
Information security is much bigger than phishing, of course. Banks and other financial services firms must contend with a disproportionately high number of IS challenges. In "How Financial Services Leaders Manage Information Security," Jonathan Penn and Steve Hunt reveal the best practices of market leaders in financial services. For example: At top firms, chief security officers are no fewer than two levels below the CEO.

Small Business Customers Need Better Security Too
Small business customers are reluctant to do banking transactions online, even though they use the Web more than their consumer counterparts. Why? In "Why Small Business Customers Don't Bank Online," Penny Gillespie blames banks for failing to deliver the products that many small businesses need, like two-factor security and tiered access.

Got Feedback?
As the research director for Forrester's financial services research, I am interested in your feedback on our research. Do you have topics to recommend, data you need, or technologies you want assessed? Drop me a line at billdoyle@forrester.com so we can connect.


Bill Doyle
Financial Services Research Director

Research Referenced In This Issue How Financial Services Leaders Manage Information Security (35432) Industry IT Spending Profile: Financial Services (36083) Phishing Concerns Impact Consumer Online Financial Behavior (35677) Strong Authentication Made Simple (35829) The Dirty Little Secret About eStatement Adoption (35912) Trends 2005: Imperatives For Banks' Public Sites (36051) Vintage Banking Platforms Need Renewal (35170) What Investors Want From Brokerage Sites (35953) Who Wants Online Money Management? (35929) Why Small Business Customers Don't Bank Online (35793)

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