News
Boomers safer online than GEN Z and Milenials over Black Friday period Yubico Survey
November 2023 by Yubico
With Black Friday (24th November) fast approaching, it is essential for consumers to stay vigilant as online fraudsters use artificial intelligence (AI) tactics to increase the perceived legitimacy of their scams. In fact, according to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)* – which is a part of the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ – cyber criminals can use AI such as large language models to produce more convincing scam emails, fake adverts, and bogus websites.
A significant part of online shopping revolves around trusting an online retailer to effectively safeguard shoppers’ personal and financial information. Despite a mistrust of online retailers, recent research conducted by Yubico and OnePoll** has shown that consumers are still storing their personal and financial information on these websites. According to the research, around one third of respondents are not confident that they could spot a fraudulent online retailer. Other key findings from the survey include:
20 percent of Boomers reuse passwords across their accounts, compared to Gen Z (39 percent) and Millennials (47 percent)
More Boomers (81 percent) are concerned with cybersecurity for their online accounts compared to Millennials (77 percent)
Boomers are least likely to save their credit card information in their online accounts (19 percent), compared to Gen Z (33 percent) and Millennials (37 percent)
On average, Boomers (42 percent) are almost twice as likely to feel unconfident in their ability to spot a fraudulent online retailer than Gen Z (23 percent) and Millennials (29 percent)
29 percent of Boomers and 25 percent of Millennials trust websites to protect their personal credit card information
Ahead of the busy shopping period, Ben Eichorst, director of infrastructure security at Yubico comments:
"While it is technically easy for retailers to implement basic username and password authentication for their customers, these types of credentials alone are easy for attackers to circumvent, allowing unauthorised access to online accounts. During busy online shopping months, consumers may be tempted to adopt risky habits such as reusing passwords across services, or clicking on order information links that appear legitimate. These kinds of behaviours put consumers at a higher risk for their accounts to be compromised."
