21 Nov Black Friday cyber security warning for east of England shoppers
UK shoppers in the east of England say they have been victims of Internet fraud amid continued high levels of online crime and low levels of cyber security.
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to kick off an explosion in online shopping ahead of Christmas, with consumers expected to spend £8bn on deals, too many shoppers are still not protecting themselves online.
As a result, 11% of online shoppers in the east of England are losing money due to a combination of internet scams, weak passwords and misplaced trust in websites.
New research from Sophos by Atomik Research shows consumers in the east of England remain at risk of online cyber-attacks as they make some basic security mistakes:
· Over half (55%) of survey respondents don’t choose a different password for each online account, which makes them easier to attack one step ahead of cyber criminals.
· 18% admit to using family members’ birthdays and pet names as passwords despite warnings that such information is readily accessible online – giving hackers vital clues to access data.
Three in ten (29%) of those surveyed who had been victims of fraud say they have had money taken from their bank accounts without permission, 36% have had their credit card cloned and 21% have had their debit card cloned.
