More people are banking online, but also failing to secure their PCs

Although nine in 10 people in the UK are carrying out some form of online banking according to Mcafee, over half of them are worried about their financial information being stolen.

Research carried out by the security firm found that people are aware of the problem of online crime and eight in ten (81 per cent) said they were wary about using online banking, but more than half (54 per cent) of the 2,000 people polled admitted they only used basic anti-virus protection.

This basic software protection often cannot identify threats such as phishing sites, and certain malicious software (malware) such as rootkit technologies. Almost half of these people (48 per cent) also consider the bank to be responsible for ensuring they have a safe online banking experience.

But Mcafee's EMEA chief technology officer, Raj Samani, said: "Most instances of banking fraud are not due to the bank's technology being compromised. It's more likely that people are unwittingly giving out their personal banking information to criminals via phishing scams and copycat sites, or their computers are being infected with malware."

The company has published some hints on staying safe when banking online including if using a comprehensive security suite. Mcafee also recommends running a security scan before signing up for any online banking services to ensure the computer is free of malicious softeare before important details such as passwords and account details are stored on the PC.

It also warned that people should never respond to unsolicited email from a bank that requests personal information, such as a username, password or address. It also reminded people that even if the email looks legitimate, they should never reply to it, click on links or open attachments included in the email.