Keeping safe online from £290m fraud threat
Card fraud in the UK is now worth £500 million, so protecting your details and identity online is increasingly important.
Of total fraud, £290.5 million was recorded by payments association Apacs as being from internet and phone fraud - a rise of 37 per cent on last year.
However, there are a number of ways of making sure you are protected.
As Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee, explains there are three basic things people must do to keep safe online and be protected from the wealth of threats from key loggers, bots and phishing.
To protect yourself you need:
- Good and up-to-date antivirus software
- A personal firewall which controls who can get onto your system and allow your consent
- To apply the security fixes to the software you use.
Security fixes for Windows programs are provided directly through updates, but patches for other programs used - such as iTunes, Firefox or Win Amp - also need to be downloaded.
Users of pirate versions of Windows do not get the necessary patches to cover problems that can be used by criminals - so they are putting themselves at extra risk.
Up-to-date virus software will identify the latest threats while a firewall can stop malicious code being downloaded while you surf.
"Anti-virus software, updates and a firewall protect you against the key loggers and people who try to steal your information without your knowledge," said Mr day.
"The next thing is phishing space. Someone dangling a carrot in front of you and trying to get you to bite."
Phishing emails are sent en mass to millions of people telling them they must log in and enter their account details - often ironically warning them their account is under threat.
Mr Day explained people should simply ignore such emails and if they have any doubt they should call their bank: "Pretty much all banks have come to the common status where they say they will never ask for personal details electronically. They may send marketing information but they will never ask for personal information.
"Anytime you get something like that, it doesn't matter if it is from your bank or from eBay or anyone else, if you are unsure pick up the phone, talk to them.
"If you are unsure, don't do it and go do a physical check."
He added: "If someone came up to me in the high street and said 'I'm from Barclays, can I have your information", you would run a mile. But because it is online and people do not understand all the technology, people give their implicit trust and go along with it."
Also people should be aware that logging into a secure site - with an https address and the padlock symbol showing - is no protection as the criminal can be using a secure site as much as a bank.
A new threat that people are openly putting themselves in is from social networking sites - such as Facebook or myspace - especially as criminals are developing aggregators that can pick up information from a number of different sources and put it together.
"Another danger is the information we disclose outside financial transactions, on social networking sites such as Facebook or myspace or blogs," Mr Day said.
"It is amazing how much information people will post about themselves."
If a criminal had a bank account number and sort code, by heading to Facebook it is possible to find date of birth, mother maiden name and, birthplace, all types of information used in bank security questions.
"People give out information in drips and drabs and so they feel safe. But when you post that information online it is there for life."
As criminals become more sophisticated, consumers need to be increasingly savvy about their details and PCs to stop falling victim.
Even a minor slip up could result in falling victim to the £290 million scam, but people should take all the precautions they can.
Mr Day concluded: "At the end of the day nothing is infallible apart from locking yourself in a dark room.
"Technology security is like physical security. If I walk down a road and see two identical houses but one with a burglar alarm, double locked windows and a high gate, and the other has no alarm. Which one will a criminal focus on?"
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