Studies from various sources point to an alarming increase in online theft, mostly identity scams and data breaches
Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya
August 10,2016: A recent survey by ONS showed that Britons are more likely to have money stolen online than on the streets. This phenomenon has taken the world by storm. In a world where online shopping exists and most importantly thrives, more financial transactions are taking place over the web than ever before. People’s bank details are vulnerable to tech savvy fraudsters, who are developing increasingly creative ways to access the information.
Studies from various sources point to an alarming increase in online theft, mostly identity scams and data breaches, in the last five years. One recent study by Javelin in 2014 concluded that someone became an identity theft victim every two seconds.
Matthias Yeo, CTO for Asia Pacific, Blue Coat Systems, a provider of security and networking solutions based in California, admits that hackers have increasingly gotten more creative. “Hackers are now exploiting our dependency on the internet. Online theft used to be relatively simple, but has now evolved into many more sophisticated forms of frauds,” says Yeo.
With the introduction of smart handheld devices, cloud applications, social media and online storage, our entire lives are practically online. Today, an average household has up to three computing devices (computer, smart phones and tablets), and transactions such as banking, shopping, making tax payments are all done in the convenience of our home. “Our digital assets may have already superseded our physical asset. For example, mobile devices are, by nature of function, less secure and more susceptible to cyber attacks than traditional desktop devices. Mobile device users frequently connect to free and unsecured Wi-Fi. Unsecured Wi-Fi in itself makes these devices prone to malware, Trojan horses and other Wi-Fi-based cyber attacks,” says Yeo.
Adding to this, anti-cyber crime cells are not very mature, which makes it harder to trace the origin of a hacker.
However, more often than not, it is people’s callousness and old habits that is leading to accounts and credit cards getting hacked.
Aloysius Cheang, managing director, Cloud Security Alliance, APAC, says people make mistakes which can be easily avoided. “How difficult is it to have a strong password? Also, people keep re-using the same password for each account they have. This, I feel, is one of the biggest mistakes, which make it all the more easy for malicious users,” rues Cheang. However, due to the sheer number of accounts that people have to maintain today, it does get difficult to have a different password for each account.
Additionally, people tend to fill in their credit details on pages that are not secure. In most occasions, people always give away valuable information about themselves, such as their citizen registration number, date of birth, name of their spouses etc. “By having all these info on hand, it is not hard for one with a malicious intent to masquerade or steal your online identity,” says Nick Peplow, director, allpay, a payments solutions company.
For instance, phishing is one of the most common methods for cyber criminals to commit their crime. In such cases, they offer a bait to ferret out information they want. The bait can be in form of a business proposal, announcement of a lottery to which one never subscribed, or anything that promises money for a small favour.
“Some online companies offer unsecured loans irrespective of your location. Another common phishing scam is when you receive an email urging you to update your bank account information. The link on the email then takes you to a fake site that looks like your bank’s website, but in reality steals your account information and then your money,” says Yeo.
Peplow recommends the use of prepaid cards rather than a credit card or debit card. “The prepaid card will not be connected to your bank and if the worst should happen, you will only lose the amount equal to the limit of the card and no more. A prepaid card is PIN protected in the same way as other cards but won’t run up credit at your expense and is not vulnerable to identity theft,” he says.
Steps to be taken to prevent online fraud
1. Protect your computer – The first thing that you must do, before you even consider shopping online, is to protect your computer against hackers, malware and viruses. This is easy to do and can be achieved by simply running a quick update and downloading any recommended software. Protection can come in the form of a firewall or antivirus and antispyware software. There are many options available to download free from the web, so cost is no excuse for avoiding basic defence.
2. Look for the padlock icon – When visiting a website, if the padlock icon does not appear in the browser or beginning of the web address, do not share any personal information on the site. A lack of padlock indicates that you are not using a secure link and that the site could be vulnerable to fraud.
3. Avoid risk – If the price of a trip to Australia or designer handbag appears too good to be true, it probably is. Do not allow yourself to be sucked in by appealing, cheap deals that could be the handy work of a fraudster.
4. Note what you reveal – Scams have evolved to social engineering methods, such as calling you on the phone to ask for information. Often, hackers get a hold of your phone number by profiling you through social media or other sites you may have used. You might receive calls that attempt to masquerade as an authorised source. Never reveal any information from these calls. Government employees or banks will never ask you for your information such as passwords or account numbers through a call they made to you. Make it a habit to call the government agency or bank back on the authorised number, and be routed to the relevant department.