Main News Desk

Is it safe to use your credit card online? Only 52% of UK residents say yes

~ research from F-Secure shows public anxiety over Internet banking ~

April 22, 2008

Only half of UK consumers believe their credit card information is secure when they shop online, according to research commissioned by F-Secure.

The Internet security expert also found that a third of consumers do not feel safe when banking online. And alarmingly only 45 per cent of those questioned believe they could spot a phishing email.

The third-party survey of Internet users aged 20-40 in the US, Canada, the UK, France and Germany, tested respondents’ knowledge of online security issues (their ‘security IQ’) and gauged their confidence in the safety of basic online activities.

Recently F-Secure also revealed the sharp rise of banking Trojans capable of stealing a user’s banking username and password. F-Secure;s virus labs have witnessed ‘bank’ themed e-mails that attempt to convince Internet user
into installing trojans. They are similar to typical phishing e-mails in
that they imitate a bank. The messages link to a website, also imitating the
bank.

Only instead of asking the customer to login, and get 'phished', the site
requests the customer to download and install a certificate. That
'certificate' is really a trojan-spy with rootkit features – enabling the criminals to capture user names and passwords.

F-Secure suggests the following advice for consumers worried about banking online:
• Check that the website address you are using is spelt correctly
• Ensure you are using a secure site when entering credit card details over the web. Secure sites will either have a padlock symbol or start ‘https’
• If you have doubts about the website, don’t continue

Executive quote

“Consumers need to be aware of threats when banking online, but that’s not to say they shouldn’t do it,” said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure. “Our research shows that a lot of people are concerned about using their credit card online, but if they follow a simple set of rules, banking online can be safe.”

About the company

F-Secure Corporation protects consumers and businesses against computer viruses and other threats from the Internet and mobile networks. F-Secure’s award-winning solutions are available as a service subscription through more than 160 Internet service providers and mobile operator partners around the
world, making F-Secure the global leader in this market. The solutions are also available as licensed products through thousands of resellers globally. The company aspires to be the most reliable security provider, helping to make computer and smartphone users’ connected lives safe and easy. This is substantiated by the company’s independently proven ability to respond faster to new threats than its main competitors. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Finland, F-Secure has been listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Helsinki since 1999. The company has consistently been one of the fastest growing publicly listed companies in the industry. The latest news on real-time virus threat scenarios is available at the F-Secure Data Security Lab weblog at http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/.

Contact details

For more information, please contact Sarah Douglas or Shenel Otkay at LEWIS, the PR agency, at: 

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7802 2626 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7802 2627 

Email: sarahd@lewispr.com shenelo@lewispr.com

Web: http://www.lewispr.com

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Is it safe to use your credit card online? Only 52% of UK residents say yes

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