UK internet banks failing e-security test

Smile and Barclays have been blasted for failing to educate their customers about the danger of online attacks.

Customers of the two banks were hit by email scams that attempted to capture their bank details. Fraudulent emails were sent to users requesting them to click a link and enter their credit card and password information into replicated sites.

According to internet security testing firm NTA Monitor, victims of fraud are usually embarrassed about being duped and keep quiet about it, so the true extent of these recent attacks is unlikely to become known.

The company added that although a scam email would appear suspicious to the security-conscious user, a vast number of people would consider it genuine.

Kevin Foster, strategy manager at NTA Monitor, said: "We're surprised that, despite these attacks, a number of UK banks are still not taking direct preventative action to advise customers of the risks these scams pose.

"The question is: will other e-commerce sites take the opportunity to give good advice to their customers before it's too late?

"Especially given that security concerns are a huge barrier to user uptake, responsible e-commerce sites should be taking more care to protect internet users - both to protect their customers' sensitive records, and reduce the numbers duped by these kinds of scams."

Advice to users is available here.