Data thefts are threatening to reach epidemic levels following reports that 20 million pieces of personal information – including credit card and bank details, passwords, and dates of birth – were sold illegally online in the first six months of the year.
The figure, a four-fold increase on 2010, has been blamed on consumers failing to take enough care to protect their details online, despite greater efforts by brand owners. In July, Experian said that in the first four months of 2012, 12 million pieces of data were traded; outstripping the figure – 9.5 million pieces – for the whole of 2010.
The increase comes in line with a sharp rise in the number consumers who have entered their personal details online in order to pay bills, buy holidays or order goods online.
According to Experian, three fifths of online users in the UK exit websites by closing the window rather than logging out of them altogether. Meanwhile, more than a quarter never look for the padlock symbol which features in the top right hand corner of certain websites to show that any transactions made on that page are secure.
Hackers sell the information they purloin from these websites in black-market auctions, where credit card details tend to fetch between $1 (£0.61) and $30, but can reach considerably more depending on the credit limit.
Passwords for email accounts sell for between $1 and $20 whilst bank account numbers can go from anything between $10 and $1000.
Experian Consumer Services managing director Peter Turner said: “It’s a wonderful life online, and it is now second nature to many of us. We’re more confident and more comfortable than ever but that also means that we can be complacent. When managing multiple online accounts, users need to protect themselves.”
The survey also found that many British internet users who are fully aware of the dangers of clicking on suspicious looking web links or opening unsolicited email do so anyway.
One in six Britons admit to opening spam emails just to see what they say, while one in 50 go a step further and click on the web links in spam emails.
Related stories
Experian exposes online fraud rise
