Research Reveals Consumers' Experience with Phishing

A study by "think tank" Ponemon Institute found that 71 percent of respondents are concerned or very concerned about the emails they receive that appear to be phishing for personal information. The almost 2,000 people who responded to the online survey said they received an average of 50 such emails in their in boxes over the last year, and 17 percent said they were actually tricked into responding. About 59 percent said they no longer actively use the Internet for transacting business, while 41 percent said they reduced their use of email.

The study, which was entitled the National Email Safety and Reliability Survey, found that 83 percent of respondents knew what phishing was, while 53 percent had received a fake email and 2 percent had been the victims of identity theft because of a phishing incident.

Asked what solutions they would like to see in place, about three-quarters of respondents said they would like their Internet Service Provider or email company to offer an unsubscribe mechanism without having to send a separate email or visit a sender's Web site. Sixty-one percent said they would like to be able to provide feedback and complaints about an email via a pop-up box in their email window or Web browser.

The study was funded by Goodmail.

Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 15, No. 9, 9/05