[ISN] Women More Likely Than Men To Surrender Security For Chocolate

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Thu Apr 17 2008 - 01:23:52 PDT


http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207400028

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
April 16, 2008 

Women are four times more likely than men to surrender their computer 
passwords for chocolate, according to a survey of 576 office workers 
conducted outside Liverpool Street Station in London by Infosecurity 
Europe.

According to the survey, 45% of women revealed their passwords to 
strangers posing as market researchers for a chocolate bar, compared to 
10% of men.

Apparently the overall percentage of password-yielding respondents this 
year (21%) represents an improvement over 2007, when 64% of respondents 
traded their security for a few moments of chocolaty goodness.

Infosecurity Europe made no mention of whether inducements tailored to 
men, such as sports tickets, free beer, or explicit pictures, were 
offered to test the possibility that the noted gender disparity might be 
reversed under different circumstances.

However, the social engineering exercise did demonstrate that it is easy 
to pry personal information -- names, dates of birth, telephone numbers 
-- from respondents in exchange for a chance at a trip to Paris. "[W]ith 
this incentive 60% of men and 62% of women gave us their contact 
information," said Claire Sellick, event director at Infosecurity 
Europe, in a statement.

"This research shows that it's pretty simple for a perpetrator to gain 
access to information that is restricted by having a chat around the 
coffee machine, getting a temporary job as a PA, or pretending to be 
from the IT department," said Sellick. "This type of social engineering 
technique is often used by hackers targeting a specific organization 
with valuable data or assets such as a government department or a bank."


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