91% of online shoppers handle account passwords irresponsibly
It’s getting to be that time of year, the rush to the stores, both online and off, to find that perfect gift for a family member or friend. As it turns out a majority of online shoppers do not handle online account information safely.
According to a study released by Guard Systems, 91% of the respondents to the survey did not handle their account information with proper care. Many had set passwords to be automatically remembered on their computers, others had written down account information, or worse, had even stored it on the computer. Some were guilty of using the same passwords and username across the same site, even I am guilty of that.
There is also the risk of phishing websites and fraudulent emails, that, among other things may ask to verify your account information. To help with that, always verify that the URL link actually goes to the real website you purchased from and not a made up site and if that fails there are tools like SiteAdvisor to steer you away from attacks of that nature.
Again, of those that took part in the survey, 74% received a phishing email and 50% were fooled or nearly fooled into giving away some or all of their account information. To make matters worse, 33% would shop at an unfamiliar site if it offered good prices, that’s a sure fire way to get into trouble. Before purchasing from a site check its merchant rating from sites like Bizrate, Shopping.com and even Cnet. If the price is too good to be true, it usually is.
Though most people in the survey realized that shopping online opens them up to the possibility of easier ID theft.
That being said, take this with a grain of salt, the company behind the survey has a product to sell but given the computer skills of the average home user I doubt the figures are very far off from the truth.
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