CFP2009 panelists: Online consumers are often careless or foolish

Harvard researcher Rachna Dhamija painted a grim picture of how consumers deal with online security during the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in Washington, D.C.

Take how users deal with security when they visit their bank’s Web site. “They’re not thinking, ‘I want to be secure,’” said Dhamija. “They’re thinking, ‘I want to do my banking.’”

Users are overconfident in their ability to protect themselves, she added. The typical reaction by consumers when they see a dialog box pop up while Web surfing: “Something just happened and I need to click OK to get on with things.”

Security practices require consumers to make tradeoffs, but the choices they make aren’t always the best ones. “Users will knowingly install spyware if the tradeoffs are good for them,” Dhamija said.

“We seem hopelessly bad at making security tradeoffs,” said security expert Bruce Schneier. “That’s because we’re responding to the feeling of security and not the reality.” The opposite reaction is also worrisome, he added. “Just as bad is something that makes people safe and they don’t know it, so they don’t act.”

How safe do you feel online? Do you download freely without knowing exactly what you’re getting and giving up?

For free tips [link:  ]on how to stay safe online, see our Online Security Guide.

Follow my continuing coverage of the conference on this blog and live on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/DonnaTapellini —Donna Tapellini

Comments

[Jamal]

Mrs. Dhamija hit the nail on the head - people want to work or recreate online without inconvenience.