17 April 2008, 16:48

InfoSec survey finds women more trusting than men

The findings of the InfoSecurity Europe 2008 Social Engineering Survey are out. Overall, the picture is better than last year. Only 21 per cent of randomly chosen subjects were prepared to reveal their passwords to a stranger, compared with 64 per cent in 2007. However, this year there is a significant difference between the behaviour of men and women. Only 10 per cent of men gave away their password, but a whopping 45 per cent of women complied.

The detailed figures supplied to heise online show that 62 per cent of the women and 49 per cent of the men use the same password for everything from work to banking, and 52 per cent and 43 per cent respectively admit to sharing their passwords with others. Interestingly, the figures for knowing the passwords of others are higher, at 55 and 48 per cent.

Seventy-two per cent of women agreed they would disclose their password over the phone to someone who said they were from the IT department, as opposed to 52 per cent of men. When it comes to divulging other credentials, such as date of birth – 48 per cent of women and 34 per cent of men – or names and phone numbers – 62 per cent and 60 per cent – the picture is not much better.