Survey Shows Our Irrational Reaction to Phishing
A survey out of the UK shows that our reactions to security threats isn't always rational. The Register describes a survey by YouGov on responsibility for spam. Suprisingly
Two in five UK adults (42 per cent) quizzed feel that their trust in a brand would be "greatly reduced" if they received a phishing email purporting to represent it.
There are obvious arguments that the brand is a victim of phishing and it is even more obvious that the company isn't the one spreading the phishing lures yet many lay the blame there.
The initial knee jerk reaction is misplaced. If we don't give ourselves time to think about a through a situation we're too easily led to misconceptions. We see this in politics all the time, perception is more important than rational assessment in quick sound bites.
The survey also finds mixed feelings on who is responsible:
One in four (26 per cent) of 1,960 adults surveyed reckon the main responsibility for protecting against phishing attacks lies with themselves, with a similar percentage (23 per cent) responding that their ISP ought to bear the brunt of filtering spam emails. A further (17 per cent) think the sender's ISP and email service provider holds the greatest responsibility in combating scam emails.
I don't think we can easily assign responsibility to any one group. We're all responsible to some degree for our personal safety but we also have collective responsibility to maintaining the security of our communities. Collective online security is an extension of the same principal.
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