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Logins Could be a Rotten Affair

29 April 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970
 

Relying on 'auto-fill' to complete the login process for websites as well as storing bank card details to shopping sites such as eBay and Amazon can make for substantial financial losses.

These findings come from a survey conducted by anti-malware and mobile security company BullGuard which argues that with nearly half of the population primarily accessing these sites on their phone, the loss of their handset could prove disastrous.

BullGuard commissioned the study exploring the login preferences of 2,000 UK adults when browsing the web on a phone or tablet.

Less than half of people taking part in the survey had set up a pass code for their phone or tablet, meaning anyone who gets their hands on the device can access its contents freely.

Three in five respondents leave themselves open to cybercrime by staying logged in to social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter which could contain private information that could be used for cyber theft or fraud.

58% of Britons stay signed-in to their e-mail accounts permanently, despite the private and sensitive information potentially accessible.

Nearly two-thirds of people store their credit or debit card details on Amazon, over 20% do the same for eBay and a third also save their card details on online payment service, PayPal. Furthermore, over a fifth of respondents stay permanently logged-in to the payment service.

The typical person has approximately six different passwords and seven in ten struggle to remember them. In fact, Brits have to request a new password every other month on average because they keep forgetting them, while a third of respondents resort to writing their passwords down. Eight in 10 of those polled said they use the autofill option “purely for speed and convenience” while half say it’s “annoying to continually type passwords in.”

“The results show that a great number of people are taking risks with sensitive data, largely for the sake of convenience,” said Cam Le, Chief Marketing Office, BullGuard. “We save login and payment card details often without a second thought but with that comes the risk of what could happen should our mobiles or tablets fall into the wrong hands. It’s always important to make it is as difficult as possible for criminals to access personal and financial details, and that includes those stored on personal devices.”

Picture: There could be trouble ahead – too many people are not being careful over logins says a BullGuard survey 

 

 

Article written by Mike Gannon | Published 29 April 2016

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