Europeans Protect Their Passwords, Not Personal Data
A survey conducted by conference group Infosecurity Europe showed Europeans are getting smarter and better at protecting their passwords, but are still not making enough efforts to protect their personal data.
According to the survey quoted by SecurityFocus, only 21% of the nearly 600 people queried near the Liverpool Street Station in London gave up their password when offered an incentive (in this case, a chocolate bar), down from 64% last year. However, of those refusing to reveal their passwords, six in ten later identified the type of information, such as date of birth, pet’s name, or anniversary date , they had used to create their password.
Women appear to be more trusting with password information than men, giving up their secret code 45 percent of the time, compared with only 10 percent of the time for men. The result may indicate that computer-security training of female office workers is behind that of their male counterparts.
Another incentive used in the survey was a fictive drawing with a Paris trip as a prize. Seven out of ten people gave up their name and e-mail address or a phone number, while six out of ten people revealed their date of birth.
“This research shows that it’s pretty simple for a perpetrator to gain access to information that is restricted by having a chat around the coffee machine, getting a temporary job as a PA or pretending to be from the IT department,” Claire Sellick, event director for Infosecurity Europe said in a statement. “This type of social engineering technique is often used by hackers targeting a specific organization with valuable data or assets such as a government department or a bank.”
