VeriSign Releases Internet Security Intelligence Briefing

VeriSign has released the second edition of the quarterly VeriSign Internet Security Intelligence Briefing. This quarters briefing displays clear and dramatic growth in secure online commerce while also revealing alarming trends in increased online fraud and identity theft.Among the briefings salient findings are: -- Online commerce volume increased by 59 percent during the 2003 holiday shopping season, while at the same time merchants rejected approximately 7 percent of overall transactions as "too risky." -- The average Internet transaction during the 2003 holiday shopping season increased 14 percent to $152.00 compared to the 2002 holiday shopping season. -- Indonesia ranked number one among the worlds nations by percentage of fraud per transaction, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana and Israel. -- The United States led all countries in total volume of fraud, and remained the largest provider of e-commerce in the world. -- Between November 1, 2003 and December 31, 2003, VeriSign processed $6.4 billion in online sales compared with $4 billion during the same period in 2002. The briefings findings underscore both an increasing trust in Internet-based transactions as well as an increasing need for online security. According to the briefing, security-related events per managed security device increased dramatically during 2003. For instance, security event growth per device was an astounding 176 percent higher in December 2003 as compared to May 2003. Events per managed devices -- even finely tuned devices -- rose persistently each quarter during 2003. And, the demand was greatest in North America which accounted for 96 percent of all potential online security threats monitored by VeriSign. In addition to increased online transactions, the briefing also revealed that Internet domain registrations, which have historically been an indicator of small business growth, also continued a pattern of healthy expansion. Registrations of domain names for active Web sites increased by 16 percent for .com and by 14 percent for .net domain names during 2003 compared to 2002. The briefing also measured a continuing pattern of growth in the number of Domain Name Service (DNS) queries, which increased by 37 percent from July through December 2003 compared with the same period during 2002. The briefing http://www.verisign.com/corporate/briefing, draws upon comprehensive data gathered from VeriSigns operation of key Internet infrastructure services and is issued quarterly to provide enterprise technology managers and the Internet community at large with a deeper understanding of important Internet usage, security, and fraud trends. The next VeriSign Internet Security Intelligence Briefing will report on first quarter activity for 2004 and will be published in April, 2004.