Singapore's attitudes to cybercrime (and security) differs by generation

Just this week, I encountered WhatsApp spam shortly after a friend shared a link for a McDonald's discount coupon from Sniflr. Googling unveiled that Sniflr phishes, and also invites victims to share the discount with 10 friends via WhatsApp, effectively adding 11 numbers to a WhatsApp spamming list.

Yesterday, it was a promoted tweet on my Twitter timeline, offering a whopping S$100 off for a purchase of S$120 at popular Singapore supermarket chain NTUC. Googling produced a newspaper warning dated some months ago that the discount coupons for NTUC being circulated on Facebook were fake, and NTUC's own Twitter account has confirmed it.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, says Norton by Symantec, which recently released its findings from the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report.

The report sheds light on what people think about cybercrime today. It found that globally, 62% of consumers believed it is more likely their credit card information will be stolen online compared to only 38% who think it is more likely they will lose credit card information from their wallets. Additionally, 47% reported they have been affected by cybercrime.



In Singapore:

 Approximately seven in 10 (69%) Singaporeans believe using public Wi-Fi is riskier than using a public restroom

 Seven in 10 consumers think that storing their credit card and banking information in the cloud is riskier than not wearing a seatbelt

 More than seven in 10 (71%) consumers believe getting their credit information stolen after shopping online is more likely than having their credit card stolen out of their wallet



“Consumer confidence was rocked in 2014 by an unprecedented number of mega breaches that exposed the identities of millions of people who were simply making routine purchases from well-known retailers,” said Gavin Lowth, Vice President, Norton Consumer and Small Business, Asia Pacific and Japan. “Our findings demonstrate the headlines rattled people’s trust in online activity, but the threat of cybercrime hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures people should take to safeguard their information online.”

Lowth said there were clear generational differences in attitudes. Baby Boomers – a group often considered less tech savvy – report more secure online habits than Millennials. Millennials, born in the digital era, often throw caution to the wind with 33% admitting to sharing passwords and other risky online behaviour.



Singapore consumers lost an average of 20 hours over the past year dealing with the fallout of online crime and nearly S$545 per person – totalling roughly S$5.49 billion. On top of this loss, cybercrime took an emotional toll with six in 10 (61%) of consumer cybercrime victims in Singapore feeling frustrated after becoming a victim. Further, in Singapore:

 More than eight in 10 (82%) of respondents said they would feel devastated if their personal financial information was compromised

 Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents believe dealing with the consequences of a stolen identity is more stressful than preparing for a presentation at work (52%)

 Nearly seven out of 10 (68%) respondents are more stressed when they realise that they have downloaded a virus than sitting next to a screaming baby on a plane (51%)

Despite concern and awareness of cybercrime, consumers are overconfident in their online security behaviours. When asked to grade their security practices, they consistently award themselves “A”. But in reality, most are not passing the most basic requirement of online security: password use. In Singapore:

 Of those using passwords, only three in 10 (29%) respondents always use a secure password – a combination of at least eight letters, numbers and symbols. Worryingly, nearly one in four do not have a password on any device.

 People are sharing passwords to online sensitive accounts with friends and family. Of those sharing passwords, almost one in four (23%) share the password to their banking account, and on average they are sharing passwords for two accounts, with the most common passwords shared being email (59%), social media (44%) and TV/media (16%).

 Even though 80% believe it is riskier to share their email password with a friend than lend them their car (20%), half of those sharing passwords do just that.

Norton's tips for online safety include :

 Choose a unique, smart, secure password for each account you have online.

 Delete emails from senders you don’t know (or senders you know but who don't normally email), and don’t click on attachments or links on suspicious-looking emails.

 On social media sites, receiving an offer that sounds too good to be true, might be just that. Beware of the pitfalls of clicking on links from social media sites. Before clicking, hover the mouse over the link to see its destination. Only click on links that lead to reputable, official company pages.

 Always monitor your financial accounts for unusual activity. If there is a charge that you didn’t make, report it immediately. Often cybercriminals will charge a small “test” amount before attempting to drain your bank account.

 Don’t put off installing security software such as Norton Security and updating it regularly.

 Use a secure backup solution to protect files and backup regularly so criminals can’t hold them for ransom. Paying a ransom is no guarantee that you will get the data back,though the argument goes that it is in the interest of the criminal to return the data in order to encourage future payments.

 Report cybercrime to the local police or national cyber crime organisation if you have been affected by cybercrime or identity theft.

Interested?

Read the report

*The Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report is an online survey of 17,125 device users ages 18+ across 17 markets, commissioned by Norton by Symantec and produced by research firm Edelman Berland. The margin of error for the total sample is +/-0.75%. The Singapore sample reflects input from 1,009 Singapore device users ages 18+. The margin of error is +/- 3.09% for the total Singapore sample. Data was collected August 25 to September 18, 2015 by Edelman Berland.

Norton Security protects computers, smartphones and tablets

Source: Norton website.

Symantec has made its flagship subscription service, Norton Security, available in Singapore. Norton Security is a multi-layered protection solution that helps shield consumers from cyber threats across different devices. According to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report, there were nearly one million new threats released into the wild each day while crypto-ransomware threats increased by more than 4,000% in 2014.

"We live in a world where cybercriminals are working overtime trying to find new ways to steal personal information. At Norton, we want to give people confidence, whether they're sharing photos online or shopping from a smartphone, that Norton Security is working behind the scenes to keep their information and their devices protected," said Gavin Lowth, VP, Norton Consumer and Small Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec.

Source: Symantec.

Norton Security is a single service that protects PCs and Macs, as well as Android smartphones and tablets, iPhones and iPads. It is also Windows 10 compatible. There are three tiers of service:

• Norton Security Standard for a single PC or Mac
• Norton Security Deluxe, for multiple devices and platforms, and
• Norton Security Premium, for multiple devices and platforms, plus additional family features and backup.

Shared feature highlights include:

Protection and performance: In three third-party tests, Norton Security is not only the fastest security product¹; but also scored 100% in 'time-to-protect'² by blocking all malware attacks on day one; and scored 100% in 'vulnerability protection^3'. 

Beyond antivirus: Norton Security builds on patented innovations like Insight, SONAR and threat monitoring with aggressive threat detection techniques that enable it to identify even the most resistant threats. SONAR detects potentially malicious applications before traditional virus and spyware software can come up with a solution.

Norton Security offers a 100% guarantee* that will result in a refund for customers if a Norton expert fails to remove a virus from a PC or Mac.

Norton Security's management portal has been updated to make it easier to add protection to new devices, view protection status, and manage their subscription details.

Norton Mobile Insight protects against apps that leak personal information/content from devices, change settings, place ads in the notification bar, and require high battery or data usage. Such information gives consumers more insight into what personal information is being collected and why their data plan costs may be rising, before they even download the app.

Norton Security Premium offers consumers the option to back up and save files on their PCs. Consumers can also purchase additional backup in 10GB increments at a pro-rated price, allowing them to pay only for what they use, and receive a consolidated request for renewal once a year.

Norton Security comes with 24x7 customer support from technical experts both by phone and online at no additional cost for a period of one year. Norton Security is backed by a team of more than 500 security experts around the world. The team uses more than 41.5 million attack sensors recording thousands of events per second from more than 157 countries. Norton and Symantec protect 1 billion systems, scan more than 30% of the world's email traffic, and protect over 135 million consumers every day. More than 31 billion URLs, 1.7 billion web requests and 25 billion executable files are tracked daily.

Interested?

Prices for Norton Security begin at S$59. Norton Security is available for purchase online, in retail stores and through value-added resellers, as well as at sg.norton.com.

1 PassMark, September 2014, An overall performance test score comparison
2 Dennis Labs, September 2014, Tracking Anti-Malware Protection 2015

3 AV-Test, September 2014, Real World and Vulnerability Protection, Performance and Remediation Report
*Restrictions apply. Users must be enrolled in Norton's automatic renewal service online. See Norton.com/guarantee for more information.

Still on Windows XP? Norton and Qihoo 360 can help

The Germany-based AV-Test Institute has found Chinese Internet platform company Qihoo 360's Internet Security 9 and Norton Internet Security 2014 to be the most effective software out of 10 antivirus solutions for protection against Windows XP threats.

Source: Qihoo 360. AV-TEST Report: Exploit Protection on Windows XP

The institute created 54 samples, targeting seven different vulnerabilities, combined with different obfuscation and evasion options as well as different payloads to simulate a wide variety of possible malware attacks. Ten antivirus solutions were tested, including Qihoo 360, Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, Eset, Kaspersky, and Norton. 

The average block rate among the solutions evaluated was 73.5%. Qihoo 360 and Norton achieved a 100% block rate, detecting/blocking all 54 attacks, while Tencent PC Manager was ranked at the bottom with an 18.5% block rate. 

Microsoft ended support of the Windows XP operating system on April 8, but there are still Windows XP PCs in use. According to Qihoo 360, nearly 20% of PC users are still using Windows XP in China. 

Read the report here.