Corporate Image: Security Sells

Some companies are so serious about security, they try to make it part of their corporate image

By Malcolm Wheatley

December 01, 2004 — CSO — If the challenge for CSOs is to market themselvesand the security messagemore effectively, then surely the companies below must represent the end goal. Citigroup, Microsoft, OnStar and El-Al are so security-conscious that they've all, in one way or another, incorporated it into their brand image. Translation: They advertise security or otherwise make it part of the message they present to customers and business partners. Look closely, though, and you'll find that these companies share a common goal: to create a sense of trust for their customers—while being careful not to overpromise.Citigroup Fights Identity TheftIn February 2003, Derek Bond, a 72-year-old retiree from Bristol, England, spent three weeks sleeping on the concrete floor of a South African jail after his name and passport number showed up on an FBI wanted list as he arrived in the country for a vacation. In vain, he protested that not only was he ignorant of any supposed crimes he'd committed in America, but he'd never even been to the country. Release didn't come until the publicity surrounding his fate prompted an informant to point the FBI to the "Derek Bond" whom they did want to talk to, comfortably holed up in Las Vegas, after purloining the identity of the real Mr. Bond some 14 years before.

Bond's misfortune illustratesto the extremethe menace of identity theft. But it's not jail time that worries people so much as impaired credit records and fraud. Armed with just a few pieces of informationinformation readily available from trash or stolen documentsidentity thieves can take advantage of lax security at financial institutions to enrich themselves.

Not if Citigroup can help it, says Ronni Burns, director of business practices for Citi Cards, the group's credit card arm. In 1991, she says, Citi was among the first card issuers to offer its customers early warning of fraud, by programming computers to spot suspicious transactions. And in 1992, Citi followed this by being the first major card issuer to include customers' photographs on cards.

Most recently, Citi has bolstered its identity-theft prevention offerings with a personalized solution that involves trained counselors providing support to victims. In the event that a customer's identity is stolen, explains Burns, a single Citi representative is assigned to the case to help customers identify the fraudulent transactions, fill in the various police forms, notify credit bureaus and generally get their lives back on track.

A high-profile advertisement campaign to launch the service has certainly caught the imagination of both consumers and the advertising industry. Victims are shown on screen going about their everyday activities, but the voice coming from their mouths is that of the thief, who is usually describing what he did with the money he stole.

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