Statistics, Facts, & Such

• Facts about Passwords used on financial institution computers:
  • 9% write every one of their passwords down - on paper or on a file
  • 55% write passwords down at least once
  • 40% share passwords with others
  • 25% have at least eight passwords on their systems at one time
  • 80% of financial institutions have implemented password strengthening practices such as requiring combinations of numbers and
  • letters - leading to increased practices of writing down the passwords
  • 51% of users require help from tech support because they forgot their passwordswww.rainbow.com, Rainbow Technologies survey, 3000 responses, OC Report
• Wal-Mart reported that last year it converted 12 million of the 1 billion checks it accepted to electronic transaction at the point of sale. It expects to double that number this year.Business Wire
  
  
• Only 39% of respondents to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances said they save regularly. The personal savings rate as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) fell from 24% during World War II to 2.4% in 2002FRB, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2003 and "Patterns of Financial Behaviors" 2003
  
  
• By 2007, over 50% of corporate workers will use notebooks instead of desktop PCs, predicts The Meta Group, IT Specialists.www.metagroup.com, "Browsers On A Budget"
  
  
• VISA processes more than $900 billion every year in credit card purchases. Estimates are that credit card payment fraud costs online merchants a minimum of $1 billion a year.Celent Communications, Market Research , www.celent.com
  
  
• Estimates by experts indicate the fraud losses due to credit cards to top $3 billion by 2007 Celent Communications, www.celent.com, Press Release, "Taking a Bite Out of Credit Card Fraud"
  
  
• The fraud rate for Internet purchases is 0.25 % for Visa and MasterCard transactions. It is 0.08 % for Visa and 0.09% for MasterCard at retail locations.Celent Communications, www.celent.com

Copyright © 2004 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 13, No. 12, 2/04