'Silver surfers' more security savvy than Ipod generation

The younger generation could do with taking some hints from their elders when it comes to protecting themselves from credit card fraud, suggested a survey by CPP Group.

The study analysed online shopping habits and security measures taken by shoppers and found that only 68% of Internet users aged between 16 and 24 took proper care to make sure a site was secure, compared with 80% of people aged between 45 and 54. The findings suggest that despite their knowledge of technological gadgets, young web users are not as switched on as their elder counterparts.

It’s surprising that young people are the ones who take most risks online, where you might assume that they would be much more ‘web aware’, than the internet’s older users,” said Danny Harrison, an identity theft expert at CPP Group.

Of more than 2000 people studied, 10% said they had become victims of online fraud, a negative knock-on effect of the growing trend for web-shopping which, according to the survey, results in the average person spending about £58,000 online in their life.

Harrison went on to advise people how to better protect themselves against fraud, by taking steps such as only using secure web browsers, avoiding doing transactions on public or shared computers and not using sites which store personal details. He also suggested that Internet users employ common sense regarding emails requesting personal or banking details.

He said that checking to see if web pages were secure was actually very easy, and that users should ‘just look for the padlock in the right hand corner or your web page – this means it’s a secure web page. Also look out for the HTTPS, at the beginning of the web address as this also means your card details will be protected.”