Hackers rattle trust of net users

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Published Sunday, February 13, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News

Hackers rattle trust of Net users The Mercury News poll: www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/hkpoll021300.htm

BY MICHELLE QUINN Mercury News Staff Writer

Even in Silicon Valley, where it's widely understood that any new technology carries risks, a third of residents say they'll change their online behavior after last week's attacks on popular Web sites, according to a Mercury News poll.

The familiarity with new technologies -- the vast majority of adults here are wired -- could, however, explain why two-thirds of respondents shrugged off the Net attacks and said they would continue to shop, bank or trade online. The Mercury News telephone poll of 400 Santa Clara County adult residents was conducted Wednesday evening, after a third day of attacks.

During the week, unknown attackers shut down Web sites including Amazon.com, Yahoo, eBay and E*Trade for several hours in what appeared to be well-planned assaults. By flooding the sites with requests for data, the attackers prevented users from gaining access to the sites.

In the county, 26 percent of respondents said they or someone close to them were inconvenienced by the hacking, with about 70 percent saying they're at least somewhat concerned about being inconvenienced in the future. But 63 percent said the temporary shutdowns will not affect their future use of the Internet.

``They didn't get into any sensitive information,'' said Jerry Kamprath, 53, of San Jose, who shops for camera equipment online and trades stock. Kamprath, a retired Lockheed financial controller, said he wasn't worried about Internet security, which he sees as an ongoing issue. ``This is a cat and mouse game. As the locks get more sophisticated, the lock pickers get better tools.''

Last week, after unknown assailants bombarded Web sites with queries, Gail Smith, 44, of Mountain View tried and failed to gain access to her investment portfolio, which she tracks on Yahoo.

But she wasn't much fazed by the online blockages. In fact, she plans to trade stocks and bank online soon.

``It's not going to change my habits,'' said Smith, a consultant to start-up technology companies.

But 34 percent of wired respondents said they will change their habits as a result of the attackers' online disruptions. Among Internet users, 17 percent said they may cut back on online transactions, 9 percent said they plan to stop all online transactions until they feel the Internet is more secure, and 7 percent said they will change what they do online but don't know how.

Net shoppers uneasy

The attacks took a toll on people like Jesse Hooker, 28, of San Jose, who uses the Internet to bank and to research cars. But he hasn't made what he sees as the big leap: online shopping.

``Now I won't do it,'' said Hooker, an analyst for Hewlett-Packard Co. ``I was hesitant in the first place. Now this makes me more scared to put my credit card out there.''

Ziqun Zhao, 37, a San Jose resident who is an engineer at a Fremont integrated circuit packaging company, plans to cut back his online trading. ``I don't feel comfortable now,'' he said.

Cammi Bowen had been excited to find an online bank that gave her 6 percent interest on checking. She's received her ATM, credit card and first set of checks.

But last week, her husband couldn't get on Yahoo. And with the virtual assailants still on the loose, Bowen, a 36-year-old San Jose homemaker and court researcher, said she's hesitant to start using her account. ``I don't know if I should be worried or not,'' she said.

The Mercury News poll was conducted by McGuire Research Services of Denver and has an error range of five percentage points and six percentage points for questions concerning only adults with Internet access.

The poll provides a snap portrait of a wired county, where it is commonplace for people to use the Internet to send e-mail, buy items, pay bills and purchase stocks. Eighty-one percent of respondents said they had access to the Internet, either at home, work, school or someplace else.

The poll also found:

Of Internet users, 89 percent send e-mail, 47 percent shop online, 14 percent pay bills online and 26 percent buy stocks online.

Those without Internet access were more concerned about the Internet's safety than those on the Net. Asked how confident they felt about making financial transactions or sharing personal information on the Internet, 68 percent of those without Internet access said they weren't confident, compared with 36 percent of those with access.

Among Internet users, 33 percent said the week's events led them to be very concerned they would be inconvenienced by a slowdown or shutdown of sites they used, 37 percent said they were somewhat concerned, and 29 percent said they weren't concerned.

Thirty percent of Internet users said they were very concerned someone might get access to financial transactions, 37 percent said they were somewhat concerned and 32 percent said they weren't concerned at all.

Levels of risk

While the problems last week didn't dramatically affect users, what frightens some is the potential for disruptions or crime. Internet users are divided roughly into two camps: those who accept a small degree of risk online and those who don't want any risk at all during online transactions.

``When you see things like what happened this week, you realize you are vulnerable,'' said Joshua Rainville, 44, of San Jose, an assistant parts manager at Lincoln Mercury. He uses the Internet for e-mail mostly.

``You want no risk and that probably doesn't exist.''

The hacking ``weakens the Internet's credibility,'' said C.J. Samios, 69, a retired physician of Monte Sereno who uses the Internet for e-mail and news.

``If they can do that, God knows what else they can do.''

http://www.sjmercury.com/premium/front/docs/hackpoll13.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 13, 2000


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