88 percent of web users are morons
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in phishing, Data Protection, Blog, Security, Internet on
New research suggests that only 12 percent of web users are able to tell a phishing scam website from a genuine one. And that can only mean one thing, that 88 percent of web using folk are morons. Let’s put it this way, the last time I got an email from the soon to be ex-President of a small African state offering me 50 million quid if I could help transfer his ill gotten gains out of the country well, guess what, I smelt a rat and declined the very generous offer. I would not send Jack Straw 3000 quid because he lost his wallet. Similarly, I do not tend to respond to emails that inform me my online banking security has been changed and I need to update my details by clicking on the helpful link. More often than not because I don’t have an account with the bank concerned, but even if I did then the spelling mistakes, the fact that the email was sent from a Hotmail or Yahoo.com address and the numerous spelling mistakes would probably put me off.
Yet a YouGov survey commissioned by VeriSign reckons that a full 88 percent of UK web users simply cannot identify the different forms of phishing currently happening online. Worryingly the average Brit is worth around £10,000 online. These are, I suspect, the same folk who invest in pyramid schemes, think that they WILL win the lottery and believe MPs do the job out of a real calling to serve their country rather than an easy way to screw the public purse of as many pounds as possible.
The research asked each respondent to identify which of two web sites, presented side by side, was a fraudulent phishing site. Only 12 percent spotted the obvious spelling mistakes of the fake site. Other findings showed that a woman over 55 living in Northern Ireland is most likely to fall for a phishing scam. You can see how you would have got on here.
VeriSign, naturally enough, are using the results to push the idea of Extended Validation which triggers the web browser address bar to turn green and show genuine sites at a glance. “With nine out of ten people in the UK vulnerable to phishing scams, a method for easily identifying a genuine site from a phishing site is a must for all businesses online” said Tim Callan, vice president of product marketing at VeriSign, “for additional clarity, the name of the organization listed in the certificate as well as the certificate’s security vendor is also displayed” he added.
Rated: 100% (3 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Ash - June 12, 2009 on 10:44 am
OK I tried this test. The one where there was a spelling mistake was basically a spot the difference. I couldn’t spot the spelling mistake cos it was well hidden between all the writing! The other stuff - like locks and address bars - i can recognise. There are people who aren’t phishing aware. but not as high as 88 per cent.
Comment by - June 12, 2009 on 12:19 pm
I made a mistake on the third one, calling it the bad site, instead of the good one - I choze the rong spelin wun 
The last one I really got wrong. Often, phishers will use a hyphen, instead of the name, though why institutions don’t simply purchase all variants eludes me. Domain names cost about $10 to at most $200 per year, hardly a barrier to security for a corporation..
Comment by - June 12, 2009 on 3:07 pm
Who cares what the site looks like - it is the email that leads you there that is the problem, and they are usually pretty obvious.
Comment by Ash - June 12, 2009 on 10:28 pm
That’s true. But my problem with the story was that 88 per cent figure was based on just the site rather than the email that leads to the phishing site - which Verisign don’t make clear.
Pingback by - June 18, 2009 on 3:18 pm
[…] | Author Profile Last week I was getting into trouble for suggesting that 88 percent of web users are morons, now I suspect I am tempting fate once more by stating that an even bigger percentage of IT Admins […]
Comment by - October 9, 2009 on 8:13 am
i like this
Trackback by - February 9, 2012 on 8:07 am
greenpeace t-shirts australia…
[…]As soon whilst you realize that you will be late, you rush regarding the door, just take your latest wallet, cell […]…
Trackback by - April 22, 2012 on 12:34 am
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
Make a comment
Tag cloud
Archives
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
Most commented posts
- 80 percent of viruses love Windows 7
165 comments
- Has Microsoft gone mental?
- Has the US Army declared war on Windows 7?
- Cuil frozen out: market share drops to next to nothing
- Xbox 360 FAIL
- The 24GB RAM Desktop is born
- Use old version of Windows instead of Linux, says teacher
- Microsoft reveals time-based licensing model
- How Marblecake Hacked Time
- Nexus Two - The Next Generation
Highest Rated Blog Posts
- Why ecommerce fails (100%)
- Google Chrome stands alone at PWN2OWN (100%)
- Betting on Hubdub technology (100%)
- Has Google gone insane as GMail goes back to beta? (100%)
- Chinese whispers as government implicated in UK hack attacks (100%)
- Crimeware toolkit targets 10,000 trusted sites (100%)
- Black Hat risk to migrating VMs (100%)
- Tough on cyber crime, tough on the causes of cyber crime (100%)
- Firefox 3, Beta 4, Enhancements 900, Tested 5 (100%)
- Has the US Army declared war on Windows 7? (100%)
