The recent survey says people are not very conscious on online frauds

Surveys are a great window into people’s minds, especially when they can illuminate contrasting, and even contradictory, behaviors in the same group. Results from the Symantec Online Internet Safety Survey have done just that. The most compelling finding – that respondents frequently proceed with online transactions they know might be insecure – inspired me to ask not just, “What are they thinking?” but “What are they thinking?!?”
The survey’s focus must be on many people’s minds, as we’ve had an extraordinary response – 301 people in just a few days! My initial impressions of the results are below. Feel free to share your comments and questions here.

Findings

Risky behavior remains common despite respondents knowing better: What struck me the most was that in many cases, respondents continued online transactions even when those transactions lacked security cues respondents knew should be there. For example, 80 percent of respondents knew to look for the padlock icon signifying Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, but only 55 percent said they would abort a transaction if they didn’t see it. Similarly, 81 percent knew to look for secure Internet connections (HTTPS) but only 56 percent got spooked by secure URLs not matching certificate domains (not an exact correlation, I know, but related). These are differences of nearly 30 points! What is driving this reckless behavior?

An equally notable figure is that 15 percent don’t use secure connections for social media activities even though they know improved security is available. Come on, people! » The recent survey says people are not very conscious on online frauds