New research from the National Australia Bank (NAB) shows consumers and businesses are prepared to make trade-offs to be protected from scams, with more people saying they are prepared to experience slower payments processing if they are protected from scammers.
In the NAB Consumer and Business Insights report on scams, Australians on average scored 6.9 out of 10, exhibiting they are “quite” prepared to sacrifice convenience for more security, and around four in 10 Australians are “extremely” prepared to do so. Around one in four Australians ages between 18 and 29 and around two in three in over 65 age groups scored “high”. Only 8% have indicated they were “not very” willing to sacrifice time for more security. Rural areas scored slightly higher (7 pts) compared to capital and regional cities (6.9 pts).
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) scored 6.7 pts on average in terms of willingness to sacrifice convenience for more security. The score can be lower depending on the industry, with finance and insurance scoring 7.9 pts, while accommodation and hospitality scored only 3.7 pts.
On average, Australians are “quite” proactive in getting educated about scams, with over four in 10 reporting they are “very” proactive and fewer than one in 10 reporting they are “not very” active. Men reported being slightly more proactive, scoring 7.7 pts compared to women’s average score of 7.6 pts.
SMEs source their information and training about scams and cybersecurity risks mainly from industry associations (57%), bank websites (53%), and external consultants and experts (51%). Only around one in 20 did not get any information or training at all. Training was more likely in the industry of finance and insurance, scoring 6.6 pts, while accommodation and hospitality firms are the least likely to consider taking the time for training about scams, scoring only 2 pts. On the other hand, over one in two firms in construction and transport and storage did not conduct much training at all.
Around three in four Australians believe not opening suspicious texts or links in emails and pop-up windows was the most effective way to prevent being scammed. Two in three believe keeping mobile devices and computers secure, never sending money, credit card and online account details or copies of personal documents to anyone they don’t know, not responding to phone calls about their computer asking for remote access, being careful when shopping online, being more alert to the fact scams exist, being wary of unusual payment requests, and choosing passwords difficult for others to guess and updating them regularly are also most effective.
