Two recent surveys explain people’s misconceptions about protecting their computers from viruses. Here’s what they discovered.
The first survey, conducted by G Data Software, explained how little computer users know about safety precautions.
The survey included responses from 16,000 international users, with 5,500 of those users from the United States.
G Data found that over 40% of U.S. users thought adult content sites carried more viruses than hobby-related sites, such as fishing websites.
However, the contrary is true. Hobby-related sites deemed safe by the general public are actually more at risk because online criminals know users think they’re safe.
The survey also showed that U.S. users believe viruses can be easily detected by visible signs, such as computers crashing or becoming slower. However, as IT pros know, most malware is designed to run undetected in the background.
Another survey conducted by GFI Software found that 65% of 1,070 adults and children surveyed had at least one infected computer. That’s a problem for IT because many users have a work laptop they bring home for personal use, or use a personal computer to do work.
Perhaps their computers became infected because 90% of working adults share their work computers with friends and family. By allowing this, friends and family access recreational websites that often leak viruses onto the computer.
Let these surveys serve as a warning to IT: Many users in your company could probably use some more training about online security.