Consumers Apprehensive about the Security of Web

2,000 people in the UK were interviewed about the online security in a survey and it has been found that almost 70% of the adults claimed to have modified their online behavior due to rising threat of identity theft for Internet users.

A YouGov poll was carried out on behalf of Microsoft and it discovered that nearly half of the users are bothered about the security of their private information that is collected online. The respondents said that particulars such as gender, date of birth, age and ethnic group are the most valued details that marketers and black marketers look out for.

Shockingly, with the growing popularity of online banking and shopping, just 15% believe that their web passwords are of any commercial interest. Indeed, this is an astonishing discovery keeping in mind the hard work of phishing sites and mails trying to deceive the Internet users so as to enable them to view the private and financial information.

After discussing the results of the survey with ENN, CA's Vice President for security strategy, Simon Perry, claimed that almost all the hackers have shifted their attention to the databases of customer information held by huge companies' like Amazon, as per the news by The Register on November 21, 2007.

Perry explains that as a hacker, one would either send millions of spam mails and get a minimal of 1% response, or choose a company database that already contains customer records in millions of number.

As per the survey, banks are hugely trusted with almost 60% vote of the participants, though a 10% fall from last year. 40% of the respondents vote for credit cards that stood at second place, followed by 25% vote for the government and 19% vote for the online retailers. To a much disappointment, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are trusted by merely 8% of the respondents.

A survey similar to the YouGov poll was conducted in Ireland by Behavior and Attitudes on behalf of CA.The survey discovered that barely 17% of Irish Internet users believed that the online security system of the organizations and banks they worked with is strong enough to safeguard them from the theft of personal identity.

Related article: Consumer NZ Website Encounters Hack

» SPAMfighter News - 12/3/2007