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
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