- Increase yet again in Internet users suffering from cybercrime -

DigitalPersona has stepped up the call for an increased emphasis on the importance of strong passwords and biometrics, as it is revealed that despite with the threat of cybercrime increasing, users are still not regularly changing their passwords to prevent attack.

A European Commission survey of 27,000 people across the EU has shown that 12% of Internet users have experienced online fraud, yet more than half (53%) have not changed their passwords in the previous 12 months.

Ben Boulnois at DigitalPersona feels this is indicative of the need for a change in attitude when it comes to strong authentication and password security:

“For years it has been agreed upon that strong passwords and authentication are one of the most important factors in keeping data and networks secure.

“Yet even with the threat of cybercrime increasing, it seems as though there is a misconception between users’ confidence online and how little they are actually protected with their current password/authentication set-up.

“Not only does the increase in cybercrime call for users to change passwords more frequently, it also means passwords should be more varied and difficult in order to make them more secure.

“As we all know, having numerous passwords of varying difficulty is hard to manage in day-to-day life, which is the reason why so many users stick to easy-to-crack passwords which leave them vulnerable to attack.

“Authentication methods such as fingerprint biometrics allow users to create varied and strong passwords without the need to remember them.”

DigitalPersona, a leading provider of multi-factor authentication and access management solutions, sees the results of this survey as a wake-up call to users about a complacent attitude to authentication and passwords. As has been made clear by this EU survey, cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated; requiring users and organisations to be smarter and more advanced with their authentication techniques in order to protect their data and identity online.