A study conducted by Unisys of more than 1000 UK financial services companies has revealed a worrying lack of confidence in their ability to combat Internet fraud.
70 per cent of those surveyed recognise themselves as cyber fraud targets, with 56 per cent agreeing that they are vulnerable to online fraud.
The survey found that one third of companies has no fraud policy whatsoever, and amongst those that do, many are outdated as a result of the fast moving Internet economy.
A lack of training in fraud detection and prevention was apparent at all staff levels, with 95 per cent of board members receiving absolutely no fraud awareness training.
Principal consultant of Unisys financial compliance group, Rowan Bosworth-Davies, whose team conducted the survey, says: "These findings show that many UK online financial services companies are leaving themselves wide open to fraudulent activities. Too few companies are investing in fraud prevention training, and awareness at the decision-making board level is alarmingly low - something needs to be done immediately before financial services companies and their customers are badly burned."
According to the latest quarterly survey from ICM Research, UK consumers are rapidly losing confidence in online banking, with more than two-thirds (69 per cent) believing it to be less safe than traditional bricks and mortar banking. This marks a 22 per cent drop in confidence since the last survey was published in June, and follows a spate of high profile security breaches at bank Web sites.