Two thirds of Internet users reuse their online banking credentials on other websites

Trusteer, the customer protection company for online businesses, reported today that the vast majority of online banking customers reuse their login credentials to access non-financial and much less secure websites. Trusteer found that 73 percent of bank customers use their online account password to access other websites, and that 47 percent use both their online banking user ID and password to login elsewhere on the Internet. These findings are based on a sample of more than four million users of the Rapport browser security service, many of whom are customers of leading North American and European banks.

This widespread reuse of online banking credentials is being exploited by criminals who have devised various methods to harvest login credentials from less secure sources, such as webmail and social network websites. Once acquired, these usernames and passwords are tested on financial services sites to commit fraud.

Trusteer based its research on data collected over a 12 month period from millions of Rapport users in North America and Europe. Rapport protects online banking credentials, recognises when users attempt to submit them to other websites, and warns them not to do so. The report’s key findings include:

-         73 percent of users share the passwords which they use for online banking, with at least one nonfinancial website;

-        47 percent of users share both their user ID and password with at least one nonfinancial website;

-        When a bank allows users to choose their own user ID, 65 percent of users share this ID with non financial websites;

-         When a bank chooses the user ID for its customers, 42 percent use the bank issued user ID with at least one other website.

www.trusteer.com/sites/default/files/cross-logins-advisory.pdf