Seven in ten (71%) US IT operations, security, and electronic deployment professionals consider NFC to be essential or very important to their organization’s security, a survey by Ponemon Institute for HP Atalla has found, with host card emulation (HCE) following closely behind at 68%.

The survey examines perceptions about security and privacy risks and solutions around the use of new electronic payments methods and virtual currencies, and the full findings are available to download free of charge from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre.

57% of the 634 respondents agreed that HCE increases the security of new electronic payments services and 55% agreed for NFC. 75% say their organization has plans to support payments via a mobile device or phone number.

46% believe virtual currencies will be commonly used within the next five years, the survey also found, and 34% say they already support or will support a virtual currency payment system within the year.

“Security and Compliance Trends in Innovative Electronic Payments” also provides data on adoption plans for electronic wallets, privacy issues, key security challenges faced by organizations and planned usage of one-time passwords and tokens.

The full 27-page report can be downloaded from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre here.