COMPANIES in Yorkshire trying to make their computer systems more friendly to customers may be opening a door to thieves and fraudsters, engineering officials have warned.
Programming a system to automatically respond to emails with a message that the recipient will be away until a given date is a clear signal that the person involved could be on holiday, said Ian Hughes, director of EEF Yorkshire and Humberside.
He said: "It is relatively easy for a thief or fraudster who is skilled at manipulating computers to discover the home address and telephone number of most people.
"So it is not difficult to see how an indication to all and sundry that a person is "away from the office" can be the first step in a burglary."
Updated: 12:08 Tuesday, June 24, 2003
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