Over 50s 'fear fraud' on internet
477232
A fear of fraud is the single biggest factor stopping people over 50 from using the internet, a survey suggests.
253997
WASHINGTON -- Home Internet users are not nearly as safe online as they believe, according to a nationwide inspection by researchers, which found most consumers have no firewall protection, outdated antivirus software, and spyware programs secretly running on their computers.
529186
(InfoWorld) - Users of online banking sites tend to bypass critical clues that the integrity of those sites may have been compromised, according to the working draft of a study released on Sunday by researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study, which will be formally released in May at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, California, underscores how new technologies and warnings can't completely protect Internet users fromÂ scams such as phishing. It also throws doubt on the effectiveness of site-authentication images, which have been implemented by financial institutions such as Bank of America, Vanguard Group, and ING Bank. The images, selected by the customers, are shown when a bank customer logs in from a different computer than is normally used. The study involved 67 users, with more than 90 percent under 30 years old. Because of varying parameters in the study, not all qualified to be included in the results for each of the three tests. Users were ask to conduct common online banking tasks, although precautions were taken to ensure users weren't put at risk. For the first test, HTTPS indicators -- which show that an encrypted connection is enabled -- were removed from the address bar along with the lock that appears in the bottom right corner of Internet Explorer 6. Although the absence of HTTPS indicators should be a warning, all 67 participants continued with their transactions, the study found. The researchers then conducted a test where the site-authentication image was removed along with the HTTPS indicators. The researchers wrote it is the first empirical investigation into site-authentication images. Only two of 60 people chose not to log in when the image was removed, a key sign that a site may have been tampered with or is a phishing site, the study said. Of users who were actually using their own bank account for the study, 23 of 25 continued to enter their passwords. "We find them [site-authentication images] to be ineffective," the study concludes. In the last test, researchers made it more obvious, this time replacing a password-entry page with a warning page from Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3. The page advises of a problem with the security certificate of the chosen Web site. Despite the warning, 30 of 57 users entered their passwords. The study comes as U.S. banks are beefing up their authentication technologies amid new requirements from federal regulators. In October 2005, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) mandated that U.S. banks implement stronger authentication protections by the end of last year, particularly for high-risk transactions such as sending money to a different person's account. Bank of America uses site-authentication image technology called SiteKey. Users pick an image and assign a phrase to it while also setting three "challenge" questions. If a user logs in from a computer that doesn't already have a cookie, they're asked one of the challenge questions and then to verify the image and phrase. If the image doesn't appear or the phrase is wrong, consumers shouldn't proceed. Bank of America said the image system benefits users since it's free and doesn't involve extra hardware or software.
496345
Federal regulators warn that the  Internet is the thriving frontier for identity theft, but 72  percent of the thefts of personal information for scams last  year was done offline, a new report says.
461341
INTERNET fraud has reached record levels and is escalating rapidly despite attempts to crack down on online crime, according to a major survey of internet users.
190795
NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters Life!) - Some elderly adults may be more susceptible to fraud because of changes in their brain that affect judgment and decision-making, researchers said on Tuesday.
237456
New survey on Internet attitudes says nearly a quarter of Americans believe the Internet could take the place of a partner for a time.
708160
By Ben Goldby; James Green  Internet shoppers in the West Midlands have been warned to be on their guard after an investigation into eBay found the popular auction site is a prime target for counterfeiters.
8958
Copyright or copy-ridiculous? Last week's arrest of a 26-year-old Cheltenham man, and the related closure of the TV-links website, has prompted a flurry of speculation that the very foundations of the internet (linking to stuff) might be under threat.â¦
82436
Most Britons are taking precautions against identity fraud, a new survey has found.
220782
By David Crow  With adults and teenagers increasingly well catered for by social networking sites, children are the new growth market. But with the danger of online fraudsters and, even more disturbingly, paedophiles, the industry has to move carefully.
743033
In 1995, the first warning was raised: The throngs of people swarming to the Internet would overwhelm the system in 1996. For more than a decade, that fear has proven untrue.
291086
WASHINGTON - Internet users at home are not nearly as safe online as they believe, according to a nationwide inspection by researchers.
238483
For some, replying to Internet scams is a rewarding hobby. They call themselves scam-baiters, and they have started taking justice into their own hands.
438947
Despite growing fears about online fraud, a new study finds that most cases of identity theft originate offline.
486550
WASHINGTON -- Home Internet users are not nearly as safe online as they believe, according to a nationwide inspection by researchers, which found most consumers have no firewall protection, outdated antivirus software, and spyware programs secretly
753224
Users of banking sites just don't pay attention, which may mean that anti-fraud measures such as HTTPS indicators don't help to protect them. The Harvard-MIT study delivering the discoveries this week was mainly composed of users under 30 -- stereotypically the most Net-savvy group around.