Mobile banking might be on the increase, but a recent study has discovered that almost one in three consumers don’t trust banks with data.

The resounding don’t trust banks with data sentiment is revealed in a major new research report from the Direct Marketing Association.

The don’t trust banks with data findings came from the Direct Marketing Association inaugural Data Tracking Study and doesn’t make happy reading for the country’s financial institutions. Nearly 30% of the 2,027 customers questioned said that they did not believe their bank could be trusted to store the information held about them.

But the survey was not just about the attitude don’t trust banks with data, it also discovered that in the same poll, almost half said they doubted the ability of public service departments to keep their data safe and even worse, said that 75% thought that political parties were the worst at keeping personal data safe.

Talking about the don’t trust banks with data findings, the executive director of the Direct Marketing Association, opined:
“Companies need to understand under what circumstances consumers are willing to share their personal information and for what reasons. Thanks to identity theft and well-publicised instances of organisational data losses, consumers are understandably wary of handing over their personal details to companies unless they absolutely have to, such as when online shopping.

“There has to be a clear trade-off in benefits to the consumer in doing so. Companies must also respect the privilege of being handed this data, or else they face the prospect of losing customers.”

The Data Tracking Survey will take place twice a year and was established to help companies identify and cope with the problems of holding data on people.

Others involved in the compilation of the survey are Equifax and fast.MAP.

Graham Burdett, Client Service Director, Consumer Marketing Services of Equifax Ltd said when discussing don’t trust banks with data: “The timing of the DMA’s first Data Tracking study couldn’t be better. With consumers increasingly concerned about security, it is crucial for companies to give consumers choice over how their personal data is used.”

Paul Seabrook, a director of fast.MAP, said about the don’t trust banks with data findings:
“It’s no surprise that people are nervous about revealing personal details since 23 per cent have experienced a security breach in the last six months which equates to about 10 million bad experiences, a frighteningly large number. People have also made it quite clear that if they give contact details in one situation this does not entitle the brand to make further contact without specific permission – especially by phone, which three quarters specifically do not want, while half don’t even want further email contact.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Many of us know the importance of protecting our home PCs and laptops with antivirus software to stop criminal elements from hacking personal information but what about mobile phone antivirus?

The emergence in the past few years of smart mobile phones has lead us to a place where we can do just about anything on them. Checking emails, updating social networking sites, making bookings for hotels or hire cars can all be done with mobile phones and you can also order products from retailers using your credit or debit card information. 

With this in mind we should already protect our mobile phones with something similar to computer protection software. GetSafeOnline.org is a new government website designed to highlight to smartphone users about the possibility of criminals using data retrieved from mobile phones. In a survey they found more than 67% of users accessing the Internet via their mobile had no kind of mobile phone antivirus. 

Phones are traded in everyday and fraudsters can access former shopping accounts with ease should they fall into their hands. Because at the time it’s your own phone; passwords are often saved which means anyone can then shop with your money online. 

You can find a host of antivirus reviews online to help advise you on the best software for protection from fraudsters. By searching online you can find genuine remarks about the software from customers who have already used the products.  

A simple way to start protecting you mobile is to use the PIN function so only you can access the Internet from your phone. This along with being more careful about storing passwords will help prevent you becoming a victim of fraud.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

A top computer security firm is saying that one in ten people have already fallen victim to data theft.

IT security expert Avira, one of the world’s leading IT security solution companies for both the professional and personal markets, discovered from their web-based moral issue survey, that internet users seriously underestimate the ability of cyber-criminals to access their data.

Over 5,000 people were questioned online and whilst most said they were aware of the security problems posed in today’s high-tech world, they did admit that they weren’t completely prepared for the ingenuity of the modern day cyber criminal.

Avira is a German based company which operates in a number of countries. It is perhaps best known for its virus protection programme called Avira AntiVir Personal, although it also helps protect companies, educational organisations and government authorities from cyber crimes.

And although half of those taking part in the survey said they had not noticed any attack on their data, Avira confirmed its likely only those that use extensive security protection would in fact realise their integrity has been comprised.

Avira pointed out that such is the sophistication of the modern virus programmes, that their detection is increasingly difficult and near-impossible without antivirus pc software.

Perhaps very worryingly, nearly a quarter of the survey participants said they wouldn’t be that concerned if they were attacked, as they doubted if they had anything of interest for the hackers! But Avira were keen to point out this is a dangerous stance and delusionary, mainly because an individual computer can be taken over and used as a bot, part of a bot net which can be used to distribute illegal spam. So a user, unknowing his own computer is part of a bot-net, might find themselves at the wrong end of a visit from the authorities in some cases.

Of those that have already fallen prey to some form of data theft, many had discovered that their Facebook and EBay accounts had been hacked, plus their email accounts. Having your personal accounts hacked in this way can get you into trouble so it important security pc software is used.

Avira’s products also include Avira AntiVir Premium which is also useful for filtering-out phishing sites and Avira Premium Security Suite which offers comprehensive protection.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

June in the U.S. is known as Backup Awareness Month, although how many people know such a thing is debatable.

But even though summer obviously coincides with the time for protecting one’s digital data, recent research reports have shown that over 90% of people still risk loss by not backing-up properly.

They also show that despite campaigns trying to get people to be aware of basic backup techniques, nearly half of computers lose all manner of digital data in a given year, including music files, pictures, hard drive failures and theft.

And for those wondering how often they should back-up their data, the best practice is at least once a day.

It seems there has been an improvement in the amount of people backing up once a week (around 13% to 14%) and people doing the same task monthly (around 26% to 27%), and computer experts are at least gratified that more people are beginning to see the point of backing-up, even though on such an infrequent basis.

And this is especially true when it comes to laptops which have recently outsold desktops as the computer of choice for many people. But experts point out that laptops are inherently more vulnerable than desktops, not least because they are often mobile and susceptible to a higher chance of damage and theft, making regular back-ups a necessity.

Also, computer users should bear in mind an average modern computer can hold a vast amount of data which could be impossible to replace if not regularly backed up. A hard drive of some 300 GB is able to store nearly 100 full-length films, a staggering 30,000 photographs and over 20,000 music files.

Yet many users, with such amounts of data on their systems (not forgetting their handheld devices and mobile telephones), seem oblivious to the risks involved. It is hoped that Backup Awareness Month will make some inroads into the lethargy.

Guest Article by Neil Camp