Half of Users Faced Attempts to Steal Their Money Online, Kaspersky Lab Reports

Almost half of users have faced online threats involving attempted money theft, according to a survey carried out by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International over a one year period. However, non-financial cyber attacks can also result in unforeseen expenses.

Cybercriminals obtain valuable user data through a variety of methods. The quickest way of getting into users’ wallets is to gain access to their accounts for payment systems, such as online banking or online shops that store bank card data. There are numerous techniques for collecting this information, the most notable including phishing pages, which imitate the official websites of the relevant institutions, and malware that collects logins and passwords as users enter them on their devices.

According to the survey, 43 percent of users faced financial cyber attacks during the past year, with five percent of respondents reportedly losing money as a result. This proportion is significantly higher (nine percent) among active users of Android tablets. When explaining how they lost the money, 16 per cent of respondents stated that hackers had stolen their money by gaining access to their payment services accounts. A further eleven percent believed they had fallen for fraudsters’ tricks and entered their credentials on a fake website, while seven percent were sure that their logins and passwords had been intercepted by malware. The average amount stolen from each user was $218, but one victim in five lost over $1,000 to this type of online fraud.

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During the year, many users’ online accounts – email, social networking, etc. – were hacked. This was reported by 14 percent of respondents. In addition to being used by cybercriminals to send spam and malicious URLs, compromised accounts can be a source of financial losses. Information that can be found in a user’s mailbox often includes account credentials sent by payment services and online stores in response to registration and password recovery requests.

In addition, 31 percent of respondents reported a malware-related incident within the past year, with one incident in five resulting in financial losses. The average damage caused by malware amounted to $161, including (among other costs) expenses associated with mitigating the consequences of infection, getting help from IT experts, and purchasing specialised software.

“Some users regard cyber-threats as some sort of remote entities that can only do damage in cyberspace. However, many online threats have clear implications for our lives in the real world, be it lost data or stolen money. Rather than paying for the consequences, it makes much more sense to take care of your security beforehand,” comments Elena Kharchenko, Head of Consumer Product Management, Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab has developed an extensive arsenal of Internet security tools. Kaspersky Internet Security — Multi-Device and Kaspersky Total Security — Multi-Device include, in addition to anti-malware and anti-phishing tools, the Safe Money technology designed to provide additional protection for financial transactions under Windows and OS X. Kaspersky Password Manager, the cross-platform solution for securely storing passwords included in Kaspersky Total Security — Multi-Device, enables users to create and store strong website and application passwords, helping to increase the security of online accounts.

About Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 17-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.