According to Kaspersky Lab tests, many users do not know (or know, but do not follow) basic security rules when they make online payments or when they use online banking systems. For example, only half the users check whether a website is authentic before entering money details, while almost a third thinks it is totally unnecessary to take any measures to protect its money.
The online test included a number of potentially dangerous situations with which users often come into contact with the Internet, including financial operations. Over 18.000 users participated in the test.
Participants were asked to select one of four virtual bank sites to enter their account details. Only half of the participants were able to identify what the really safe website did not have a modified name (changes to an organization's name is a common phishing tactic) and the https prefix that indicated an encrypted connection. In addition, 5% of respondents chose locations with misspelled addresses, suggesting that they could be fake sites that were created to intercept users' financial data.
Users were then asked what steps they would take before entering their financial details in order to make an online payment. Only 51% of respondents said they verify website authenticity. 21% of respondents uses virtual keyboard to protect passwords from being intercepted by malware, while 20% check that their security solution is working properly to ensure that the payment is safe from any external interference.
Nearly one third of users (29%) said they would not take any additional action because "the sites of large and well known companies are adequately protected". However, in most cases, even a protected site can not guarantee that digital criminals will not intervene in the payment process or that a device will not be "infected" by a malicious program designed to steal money. 11% of respondents would use "anonymous browsing" features to protect a payment while 4% would resort to an anonymizer solution and 7% would repeatedly "erase" the data to "confuse viruses". Unfortunately, these actions do not help at all to protect a user's financial information.
Αποδείχθηκε ότι ορισμένοι χρήστες ήταν εξίσου απρόσεκτοι και με την προστασία των λεπτομερειών πληρωμής και στον πραγματικό κόσμο. Το 20% δεν βλέπει κανένα πρόβλημα στο να αφήσει την τραπεζική του κάρτα εκτός του οπτικού του πεδίου όταν pays in a restaurant, thus giving fraudsters the opportunity to copy it.
«This evidence reinforces what has been observed for some time. Many users are still not only putting themselves and their money at risk, but also the banks and payment systems that businesses use. Addressing incidents, even if caused by inexperienced users, can consume significant resources.conditions and has a negative impact on a company's reputation. The fact that users believe that companies will do everything possible to protect them from online fraud imposes a great responsibility. This means that the use of specialized security measures against electronic theft becomes a necessity." said Ross Hogan, Head of Kaspersky Lab's Worldwide Fraud Prevention.
The platform Kaspersky Fraud Prevention enables banks to protect financial data and prevent fraud, even if users are careless when dealing with their money online. Among other things, banks have the choice install a security solution directly on customers' devices, including mobile devices.
For their part, users, especially those with a lower level of technological knowledge, need to deploy solutions that provide additional protection for online payments, such as Safe Money for Windows and Mac OS X, which is embedded in Kaspersky Internet Security - Multi-Device and Kaspersky Total Security - Multi-Device. This technology goes beyond basic protection against online threats, creating a special secure environment for conducting financial transactions that are inaccessible to fraudsters.
