Almost 98% of computer users enjoy the ease and convenience of shopping and banking on their PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones, according to a global survey from B2B International and Kaspersky Lab.
That means just 2% of respondents say they never use their PCs or gadgets to pay for a film, a song, or a game; to book a flight; and to purchase items, pay other people, and organise their finances.
But added convenience for law-abiding users almost always creates new security concerns, and cybercriminals are cashing in. Banking Trojans, ransomware, fakes of banking and shopping websites – the crooks have a sizeable arsenal of techniques to steal money.
Based on survey responses, online shopping is the most popular activity, with 95% of people using these services. Online banking is close behind, used by 91%, and about 74% regularly use e-payment services. The data also shows that most people use their PC or Mac for online financial transactions: 77% of respondents use these devices to make purchases from online stores and 71% for online banking.
But it’s not just the good guys who are aware of these services – cybercriminals are eager to launch lucrative financial cyber-attacks and turn e-commerce into real world robbery. In response, all reputable online services use a variety of technologies to protect their customers’ critical financial information. However, these measures alone are rarely enough to protect people from financial crime.
Criminals out to steal money are ready to invest a lot of manpower and finances to organise sophisticated malicious attacks. The most effective way to combat them requires the use of online security, which is capable of staying ahead of new criminal activity and spotting attempts to intercept sensitive user data before financial credentials fall into the wrong hands.
