Despite a push from the UK Government and private sector companies to educate the public on the basics of cybersecurity, Brits are still failing to take simple precautions to protect their data, a new report from Avast has suggested.
Although over half (55 per cent) of Brits feel confident their online data is safe, well over the global average of 38pc, they are guilty of demonstrating poor understanding of cyber security fundamentals, the IT security product company says. Findings of the report include:
One third (33pc) of Brits who have been the victim of a cyberattack never take any action to change the broken password
Over half (53pc) only change their password for the hacked account and not for other accounts which used the same password
Over a third (39pc) of Brits are using weak passwords
Most, 86pc of Brits will return to a hacked site, even when they’re aware it’s dangerous
Tips for staying secure online, Pete Turner at Avast:
1. Never have the same password for all your devices and online sites. Be cautious about what data you list on social media or dating sites: date of birth, mother’s maiden name, place of birth and first pet are all questions many financial institutions use to validate you. Remember you can help protect yourself from identity theft with these simple steps.
Where possible use additional access methods, for example, two factor authentication using your mobile phone to receive a code that verifies your credentials to login. This extra step makes it very difficult for someone to access your account and the best example of two-factor is something we all carry, and ATM card, something you have and something you know (the pin).
2. If you are online dating, use an email address created just for that purpose, and get a pay as you go mobile. It gives you greater control, and means that if you decide you want to disappear from the site, it’s much simpler than if it’s linked to your ‘real’ details. Never use a name on a dating site that you use on other social media.
3. Turn off the location services on your phone when taking photos – and remove locations from ones you’ve already posted. Some sites offer this option when you post. If not, then if you are working in Windows, right click on the image and click ‘details’ where you will find an option to remove the data. On a Mac use one of many tools for this purpose, like Smallimage.
4. Set up a Google alert on your name, this means that any content posted in the public domain and that is searchable will generate an email alert by Google so that you know when things are appearing with your name. You can easily set this up at https://www.google.co.uk/alerts.
Separately, the digital product firm reports that more than half (52pc) of the most popular PC applications, running on PCs around the world, including Flash and Java are out of date.
Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer, GM and EVP Consumer Business at Avast, said: “In the online world, your security habits, such as keeping your software updated, play a big role in your level of your protection on the internet. Running outdated programs leaves PC users susceptible to attacks from savvy hackers exploiting easy-to-find or known vulnerabilities. The cause of people using outdated software may be that updates don’t install properly or they postpone or forget to update even when prompted. We recommend people get into the habit of doing a regular status check on their PC, use an automatic software updater tool like the one we provide in AVG TuneUp and make sure their AV is always kept up-to-date.”
For example, Windows XP is still installed on 6pc of the PCs surveyed. Around 6.5 million users from Avast’s sample base still use XP despite Microsoft discontinuing support almost three years ago.
