Report paints mixed picture of security landscape.

Fraud losses for online banking dropped by one third last year according to new figures from the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs).
In 2007, total losses for online banking fraud were £22.6 million - a decrease of 33 per cent from 2006, when they totalled £33.5 million, Apacs revealed.
While losses from bank fraud have fallenm the numbers of targeted phishing attacks and spyware scams has exploded this year. Apacs said there were 20,682, reported phishing incidents in the first half of 2008 - an increase of more than 180 per cent on the same period last year.

Criminals are turning to phishing attacks to trick online banking customers into divulging their account details and security information, because the banks own systems have proved difficult to attack, Apacs said. Spyware is another popular method for criminals to retrieve online banking details from unsuspecting users.

The number of people who bank online in the UK has risen massively in the past seven years from under 3.5 million last year. This accounts for more than half of all UK internet users.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, said that with online banking on the increase, users should be alert to scams and other security issues. “In the future we expect moreand more people to use online banking to make payments rather than just checking balances, particularly in light of the recent introduction of the new faster payments service. This enables customers to make one-off payments over the internet or by phone within hours, not days,” she said.

“However, we strongly urge banking customers to make sure they remain wary of online scams such as unsolicited emails claiming to be from their bank, and to only use a fully protected PC with regularly updated antivirus software and a firewall installed and swiched on.”