Why is identity theft so common?
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008The risk of identity theft has made us all a little paranoid, right? We shred our mail, and look nervously over our shoulders at the ATM. We’ve been versed in the importance of safeguarding our computer passwords at home and at work. You can never be too careful.
Imagine this: You’re busy at work (or at least, you’re trying to look that way) when a stranger approaches, introduces himself as a marketing researcher, and starts chatting you up. One thing leads to another, and before long he’s offering you a chocolate bar…in exchange for your computer password.
Or maybe you’re killing time around the coffee machine with some coworkers, when a stranger slides into the conversation, and says “Give me your name, date of birth and home telephone number, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free trip to Paris.”
Now, conventional wisdom is that we’re all too smart for fall for something this stupid, right? Well, so much for conventional wisdom.More…
Infosecurity Europe tried the chocolate bar lure on 576 office workers in London earlier this year, and found that 45% of women gave up their passwords for the yummy, chocolatey morsel. Only 10% of the men indulged. Overall, 21% of the respondents caved.
Before you bemoan all the wasted time and money of those corporate employee security training seminars, despite evidence to the contrary, progress is being made — in 2007, 64% of those surveyed made the trade off.
On the other hand, when they raised the ante, and offered a chance to win the Paris trip, 60% of the men and 62% of the women happily gave the “market researcher” their personal information.
