24 Jun 2010

Temptation 'can be a serious data security risk'

Businesses should reinforce the fact that opening unsolicited emails can be a serious risk to data security, both for individuals and the firm, it has been stated.

Rik Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro, said more than 420,000 scam emails are sent every hour in the UK and therefore it is a continuing problem that people need to be aware of.

Indeed, the fact that all these emails are sent does mean that people can be curious about what may happen if they open them, but they should resist this urge.

He commented: "What a lot of people will do when they get an email is recognise it as not being legitimate in any sense - phishing, scam, malicious, whatever it might be - but are still very tempted to click on the URL."

According to figures compiled by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 73 per cent of adults have received a scam email in the past year, while, in comparison, 21 per cent of adults have received scams via a letter and 12 per cent via text message.

Indeed, the OFT highlighted how scammers are targeting unsuspecting people using increasingly sophisticated and manipulative tactics to launch its 2010 Scams Awareness Month.