14 DAY TRIAL // According to a study published by the America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance, one in four Internet users faces every month several e-mail scams that attempt to obtain sensitive, personal information by fooling unsuspecting consumers.
The worst thing shown by this study is that the great majority of these users actually fall for such primitive frauds in spite of the huge amount of information available online regarding phishing scams. One conclusion drawn by researchers was that of those receiving the scam e-mails, most thought they might be from legitimate companies: seven in 10, that's 70%, were fooled by the e-mails. Phishing scams rely on sending emails which pose as being sent by legitimate companies and request personal information which is later used to empty bank accounts.
It is hard to tell if we should be glad about the fact that 75% of those surveyed use their computers for sensitive transactions such as banking, stock trading or reviewing medical information. It is great people embrace modern technology and they use the computers to perform what could otherwise be a hassle. But, since the same users don't seem to have a clue about the risks they expose themselves to, hackers have a lot to be happy about.
The icing on the cake shows just how ignorant people are about online security. The study found 81 percent of home PCs lacked at least one of three critical protections: updated antivirus software, spyware protection and a secure firewall.