71% in UAE shop online - great... for cybercriminals

According to a survey from B2B International and Kaspersky Lab, almost 98 per cent of computer users in the UAE enjoy the ease and convenience of shopping and banking on their PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones. That means just 2 per cent of respondents in the UAE say they never use their PCs or gadgets to pay for a film, a song, or a game; to book a train ticket or a flight; and to purchase items, pay other people, and organise their finances.

But added convenience for law-abiding users almost always creates new security concerns, and cybercriminals are cashing in. Banking Trojans, ransomware, fakes of banking and shopping websites – the crooks have a sizeable arsenal of techniques to steal money.

Based on survey responses from the UAE, online shopping is the most popular activity, with 71 per cent of people using these services. Online banking is close behind, used by 67 per cent, and about 55 per cent regularly use e-payment services. The data also shows that most people use their PC or Mac for online financial transactions: 63 per cent of respondents use these devices to make purchases from online stores and 61 per cent for online banking.

But it’s not just the good guys who are aware of these services – cybercriminals are eager to launch lucrative financial cyber-attacks and turn e-commerce into real world robbery. In response, all reputable online services use a variety of technologies to protect their customers’ critical financial information. However, these measures alone are rarely enough to protect people from financial crime.

Criminals out to steal money are ready to invest a lot of manpower and finances to organise sophisticated malicious attacks. The most effective way to combat them requires the use of online security, which is capable of staying ahead of new criminal activity and spotting attempts to intercept sensitive user data before financial credentials fall into the wrong hands.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.