Connect with us

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website. .

Business

Cyber Market Barometer Finds UK Consumers living in ‘Cyber Denial’ when it comes to online security

Cyber Market Barometer Finds UK Consumers living in ‘Cyber Denial’ when it comes to online security

Significant numbers of UK consumers are failing to take the most basic online precautions according to new research from DAS UK Group, the UK’s leading legal expenses insurer, and HSB Engineering Insurance.

Although 88% of consumers claim to be confident when dealing with cyber security, they appear to be in ‘cyber denial’ with regards to protecting themselves. Nearly a quarter are failing to take even basic – and well-known – precautions such as using anti-virus software (23%) or ‘strong’ passwords (24%).

This is supported by other alarming statistics such as 34% not using different passwords on online accounts, 41% delaying before installing system updates, and, perhaps most surprisingly, 51% fail to regularly back-up their data.

The days of frantically scouring the keyboard to find the ‘Any’ key may have passed but there is also still widespread consternation when it comes to understanding some technology basics. Over half of consumers (54%) wouldn’t know how to check a website is genuine, opening themselves up to fraud, or the 63% of consumers who did not know that banks are not required to refund money that is transferred to fraudsters.

The ‘DAS Market Barometer: Cyber’ identified consumers’ level of confidence and knowledge of cyber security, their top cyber security concerns, and the types of precautions they take to protect themselves against cyber risks.

In terms of cyber security concerns, 90% of consumers are concerned about at least one aspect of cyber security. In particular, three quarters (75%) are concerned about identify theft, loss of personal data, online fraud, and their devices being infected by virus or malware. Two thirds (66%) of consumers – mostly younger adults and heavy social media users – tend to be more concerned about losing personal data, files or photos.

With regards to data privacy and use of social media, 49% of surveyed consumers did not know that social media sites can retain various rights over things people post which also makes it hard to ever completely delete or remove your ‘digital footprint’.

James Henderson, Managing Director Insurance UK & Ireland, DAS UK Group, said:“Cyber security regularly hits the headlines, from malware attacks to the theft of personal and financial information.  Our research has shown that whilst it seems that people are aware of the issue, they are still not taking the most basic precautions to protect themselves from this very real threat.  As the activities of fraudsters become more diverse, online users must take every opportunity to safeguard their personal information from what are often sophisticated criminal activities.”

“We also undertook this research as part of our own cyber development journey because we really wanted to understand how consumer attitudes and behaviour might affect the appropriateness of any cyber insurance solution. Our hypothesis, forged in a concern about some of the ‘mass market’ cyber products that have been launched recently, is that there might be an emerging gap between understanding, attitude and behaviours – and the results of our research certainly support this.

“Mis-selling risk would be a too strong statement to use right now, but we have identified that the consumer behaviour we call ‘cyber denial’ has the potential to invalidate the cover of many cyber policies, so you can see the potential problem on the horizon.”

Stephen Worrall, Managing Director, HSB Engineering Insurance commented: “The drive for convenience in our everyday lives has undoubtedly increased our reliance on technology and, as a result, heightened our vulnerabilities to cyber security risks.  The research shows that people are concerned about the personal information they are sharing online but are less motivated when it comes to employing the basic precautions they need to take to protect their data from cyber security risks.”

The DAS Market Barometer: Cyber (in conjunction with HSB) can be downloaded via www.dasinsurance.co.uk/barometer

Global Banking & Finance Review

 

Why waste money on news and opinions when you can access them for free?

Take advantage of our newsletter subscription and stay informed on the go!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Global Banking & Finance Review │ Banking │ Finance │ Technology. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Post