More than half of U.S. consumers use at least two credit or debit cards each month for online purchases, and many are wary of the potential for fraud associated with online banking, a study security-software vendor AVG Technologies USA Inc. released Sept. 1 suggests.
Some 55% of respondents in an online survey of 8,000 consumers with home Internet access in 35 U.S. cities said they use “two or fewer” credit or debit cards monthly for purchases. Another 72% said they check their bank accounts for errors at least once a week using their bank’s online website.
United Kingdom-based Research Now conducted the survey between Aug. 5 and Aug. 22 on behalf of Chelmsford, Mass.-based AVG.
Despite a relatively high level of vigilance in monitoring their accounts, AVG said Americans generally have “poor” computer and mobile-device security habits that could expose them to fraud.
Some 40% of respondents said they don’t use a password on their mobile device and of those who do, another 34% have not changed the password within the last year. Another 38% of respondents admitted to sharing online passwords with at least one other person.
Some 75% of respondents said they do not back up password and other security data stored on their mobile devices and 23% fail to back up data on their home computers, according to the survey.
The top five U.S. cities where respondents’ online and mobile-device security habits put them at the highest risk for fraud are San Antonio, Texas, followed by Tampa, Fla., Atlanta, Dallas and Oklahoma City, survey data show.
The five cities with the lowest risk for such fraud were Minneapolis, New York, Cincinnati, Miami and Nashville.
Chelmsford, Mass.-based AVG commissioned Research Now to conduct the survey.
“Recent news demonstrates that consumers need to be more vigilant than ever about safeguarding the personal information sitting on their PCs and mobile devices,” JR Smith, AVG Technologies CEO, said in a press release. “Consumers are getting smarter about online threats but still fail to connect the dots when it comes to understanding that today’s climate requires (that) users protect any device that is Internet-enabled.”
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