The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: April 20, 2008

Official News page 6


REAL LIFE NEWS: WOULD YOU SWAP YOUR PASSWORD FOR CHOCOLATE? YES PLEASE!

by Hazed

There have been several surveys in the past that show that people are only too willing to give their passwords to complete strangers in return for rewards such as chocolate. Now a new survey indicates that women are four times more likely than men to swap security for theobromine.

A survey of office workers in London, in which 576 people were accosted by strangers masquerading as market researchers, found that 45% of women agreed to the swap, versus just 10% of men. Of course, this could just mean that women are more willing to lie to get their hands on a chocolate bar.

Leaving aside the gender imbalance, the results of this survey are significantly better than in previous years. In 2007, 64% of people were prepared to give away their password in exchange for a reward of chocolate or a free pen. This time round, it's just 21%. So either people are getting more security aware, or they have gone off chocolate.

More worryingly, the bogus researchers also asked for the workers' names and phone numbers, ostensibly so they could be entered into a prize draw. 61% agreed to hand them over, and the same number also gave their dates of birth. Had the researchers been fraudsters they could have reaped a very valuable crop of information to let them steal peoples' identities!


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