By . Leesa Smith . Australians are putting themselves at risk of their personal information being hacked with a survey revealing fewer than a third of smartphone and tablet users install security software. The survey, released today by the Government's Federal Communications Department, also showed 40 per cent of the 1,000 respondents couldn’t identify any signs of online safety breaches. Released as part of Stay Smart Online Week, the national survey found 63 per cent of public WiFi users never run virus checks while less than one in five 'always' do. Australians need to be more savvy about security when it comes to using wifi in public places . University of Adelaide information security expert Dr Malcolm Pattinson labelled WiFi as the ‘most insecure mechanism’ for sharing information and a ‘goldmine’ for criminals. He advised people not to use public WiFi at all and particularly not for online banking, while the Federal Government advises no financial transactions should be done with public WiFi. ‘It’s so easy to tap into and they can track keystrokes,’ he told The Advertiser. ‘They get your credit card number and your password.’ ‘We have to prepare people for when it happens, not if it happens.’ According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1.2 million Australians aged 15 and over were victims of at least one incident of identity fraud in 2011, up from 806,000 victims in 2007. While only 10 per cent of victims knew their details were stolen via email or the internet, the real figure was likely to be much higher because close to half had no idea how their personal information was taken. The Australian Institute of Crime reports that one in 20 household users have been victimised by scams or identity fraud with the reasons identified as a lack of knowledge, prevention and behaviour change. Michael McKinnon from AVG internet security said Facebook and Twitter had increased their use of encryptions to stop hacking of accounts through public WiFi. 'The problem is there are tens of thousands of websites not using those protections and theoretically anyone could access anything you are sharing with those websites,' he said. 'There is a real trade-off between the convenience of public wi-fi and the security aspect of it.' Mr McKinnon said it was reasonably safe to do online banking in public using full web addresses starting with “http” that users should bookmark, while typing in bank addresses starting with 'www' left users vulnerable to attack. He said Australian banks had a good record of refunding money lost to cyber attacks.
Survey of 1,000 Australians reveals fewer than a third of mobile and tablet users install security software .
63 per cent of those surveyed never run virus checks .
40 per cent of the respondents can't identify online safety breaches .
Expert advises not to use public WiFi particularly for online banking .
By . Leesa Smith . Australians are putting themselves at risk of their personal information being hacked with a survey revealing fewer than a third of smartphone and tablet users install security software. The survey, released today by the Government's Federal Communications Department, also showed 40 per cent of the 1,000 respondents couldn’t identify any signs of online safety breaches. Released as part of Stay Smart Online Week, the national survey found 63 per cent of public WiFi users never run virus checks while less than one in five 'always' do. Australians need to be more savvy about security when it comes to using wifi in public places . University of Adelaide information security expert Dr Malcolm Pattinson labelled WiFi as the ‘most insecure mechanism’ for sharing information and a ‘goldmine’ for criminals. He advised people not to use public WiFi at all and particularly not for online banking, while the Federal Government advises no financial transactions should be done with public WiFi. ‘It’s so easy to tap into and they can track keystrokes,’ he told The Advertiser. ‘They get your credit card number and your password.’ ‘We have to prepare people for when it happens, not if it happens.’ According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1.2 million Australians aged 15 and over were victims of at least one incident of identity fraud in 2011, up from 806,000 victims in 2007. While only 10 per cent of victims knew their details were stolen via email or the internet, the real figure was likely to be much higher because close to half had no idea how their personal information was taken. The Australian Institute of Crime reports that one in 20 household users have been victimised by scams or identity fraud with the reasons identified as a lack of knowledge, prevention and behaviour change. Michael McKinnon from AVG internet security said Facebook and Twitter had increased their use of encryptions to stop hacking of accounts through public WiFi. 'The problem is there are tens of thousands of websites not using those protections and theoretically anyone could access anything you are sharing with those websites,' he said. 'There is a real trade-off between the convenience of public wi-fi and the security aspect of it.' Mr McKinnon said it was reasonably safe to do online banking in public using full web addresses starting with “http” that users should bookmark, while typing in bank addresses starting with 'www' left users vulnerable to attack. He said Australian banks had a good record of refunding money lost to cyber attacks.
being hacked with a survey revealing fewer than a third of smartphone and tablet users install Department, also showed 40 per cent of the 1,000 cent of public WiFi users never run virus checks not to use public WiFi at all and particularly not for online banking, while the Federal