Phishing: 50% of users don’t recognise scams

Study shows that around half of PC and mobile device users can’t distinguish between a legitimate and fake email or message

Staff Writer

September 3, 2012

A survey has revealed that approximately 50% of users can’t recognise a phishing email message or forged website.

The study was conducted by O+K Research on behalf of security firm, Kaspersky Lab.

Phishing is the process of mimicking a legitimate email, site or organisation to trick users into opening malicious files or entering sensitive information.

The survey has shown that 86% of PC users check their emails regularly, 73% use social networks and 54% use their smartphones on the internet.

47% of PC users received emails with a suspicious link or attachment, and 29% got an email with the name of a bank or other organisation asking for information.

Moreover, 26% of users admitted that their computers had been infected as a result of opening an attachment to a letter, and 13% of respondents had entered personal or financial data at suspicious pages.

On the mobile front, 24% of tablet users and 18% of smartphone owners received correspondence with suspicious links and attachments. 14% and 11%, respectively, had letters on behalf of a bank or social network.