The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Security vs. Convenience
Tuesday - September 16, 2008 02:39 PM in
by Peter Leppik
There's often a tradeoff between security and convenience: the more secure you make a system, the less convenient it becomes.
For companies which deal with the public this can become a major issue. Too little security means fraud, identity theft, and legal liability. Too little convenience means customers go elsewhere.
Unfortunately there's no optimal solution yet, and no standard way of doing things. Every company seems to have its own unique security scheme.
Today I had to call American Express for the first time in about two years. After entering my account number, I was prompted to enter my "password."
Apparently American Express accounts now have passwords, but I'll be darned if I could remember setting one. I tried one of the passwords I use on a lot of different accounts, but it didn't work. As a result, the customer service rep asked me a question about public records in my name (in this case the car I own). He then gave me the option of setting a new password or using one of the standard "What is your mother's maiden name" type questions.
Neither option is terribly appealing. I'm quite certain that by the time I need to call American Express again I will have forgotten any password I choose (and I'm not going to write it on the back of my card with a Sharpie). On the other hand, the standard security questions are all well-known and easy for someone else to learn the answer to: there's little security in your mother's maiden name, the city of your birth, or your spouse's birthday.
In the end I chose to set a new password, figuring that I'll just have to go through the forgot-my-password routine again the next time I call.
Really, though, isn't there a better way?
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