-
Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
-
Related
Would you hand your computer passwords to a complete stranger for nothing more than a sweet treat?
TV One's Close Up, in conjunction with NetSafe, was shocked to
discover that a whopping 59% of Kiwis would do just that, willingly
giving their internet security details to a surveyor for nothing
more than a chocolate bar.
Netsafe surveyors went out onto the streets, tempting people
into to answering three questions in return for a Moro
bar.
They then proceeded to ask them their computer password, name and contact number.
Surprisingly, most of the people being questioned didn't mind giving them their passwords.
In fact, after revealing their passwords, around 67% promptly gave them their names and contact numbers too.
New Zealanders are constantly lectured about the importance of internet security and keeping passwords secure but, it seems the message is still not being heeded by a large segment of the population.
Interestingly, one of the NetSafe surveyors said a lot more people were worried about telling him their phone numbers than they were of giving him their internet password details.
Martin Cocker, NetSafe Executive Director and one of the four taking the survey, says it is a real worry that people were prepared to hand over their password without any kind of background check or real concern with what they were going to do with it.
"The approach of social engineering is to take pieces of info and piece it back together. People think if they didn't give us their user name therefore we don't know how to access their account but, they need to know we might have done all the background stuff before and all we need is the password," says Cocker.
Cocker says that once a person knows someone's name, it's not that hard to work out their user name for any given network.
"By asking them their name we've got enough to get in."
According to latest statistics, only 50% of Kiwis use more than one password and 45% never change them ever. About 36% of internet users share their passwords.
And of the 100 people Close Up surveyed, some were surprised to see that their passwords were on a list of the world's worst passwords .
Approximately 1 in 50 people use one of the top 20 passwords.
The top five on the list are:
- 123456
- Password
- 12345678
- 1234
- pussy
Close Up questioned some of those who willingly gave their details and while some did not quite understand why they gave their details, others said they gave the surveyors a fake name or a fake number.
But Cocker is not buying that.
"I think if someone put a camera in my face I'd say it was a fake password too and rush home and change it.
We tried to double check, asked some cross checking questions; I think most people that gave us a password gave us a legitimate one, most could describe their passwords and its unlikely they made it up on the spot," says Cocker.
Sean Lyons, another of the four NetSafe surveyors said that what surprised him the most was that most people did not even ask him where he was from, what was the survey for or what he was going to do with the information they gave him.
Lyons says one of the people surveyed even asked it he was going to phone them later.
"Maybe the power of the chocolate bar up front was dazzling them
a little bit so, not actually thinking about what they're handing
over," says Lyons.
Get
more cyber safe with thewhatsit.org.nz
