A year ago I wrote that researchers in London, England, found that almost two-thirds of office workers surveyed would give their to a complete stranger in exchange for a chocolate bar. Infosecurity Europe has just repeated the study. Now they find that out of 576 people questioned, “only” 21% would divulge their passwords for candy.

That is a big improvement but still a scary number when one person in five will reveal confidential information so easily. In addition, women were 4.5 times more likely to tell all than men, in exchange for that chocolate bar. Also worrisome was the finding that 61% of all respondents were willing to reveal their birth date.

Your date of birth is one of three pieces of data you should never reveal to anyone, ever, whether online or off, unless you absolutely have to. The other two are your Social Insurance/Security Number and your mother’s maiden name.

It seems much more education needs to be done to inform people about such delights as , hackers, malware, credit card fraud and general security breaches, which seem to occur regularly. This is serious and dangerous stuff. You can surf the Net safely and without worries if you take a few precautions with your computer and your personal life. You probably know that by now, if you are a regular reader of these Tips.

Beyond education, another thing companies can do is get rid of passwords altogether and use biometrics to log in, such as fingerprint readers. They are harder to copy or reveal, even for chocolate.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here:
= > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

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