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About 74 percent of online users fear hacking of social networking account: Study
Wednesday, 15 June 2011, 23:07 IST
Bangalore: Online users in the country are more scared of their social networking account being hacked as compared to loss of personal data in the cyber world, a Microsoft India study said.
About 74 per cent of the respondents said they worry about hacking of their social networking account as opposed to loss of personal data, which accounted for just 16 per cent and credit card fraud (five per cent), the study said.
The survey was hosted on Microsoft Indias Windows and Me Facebook page and received responses from over thousands of consumers, it said.
About 50 per cent of respondents said they spent close to five hours on the internet daily.
Connecting with people online emerged as the favourite activity, with 40 per cent people saying they spend this time on social networking sites.
Other key activities included research (with 35 per cent) and entertainment (22 per cent).
The study revealed that nearly onefourth of the participants (over 23 per cent) said they have been victims of cyber attacks.
Of this, 67 per cent people said they had suffered loss of personal data, followed by 19 per cent users witnessing email account hacking.
The large number of cyber attacks has also led to people becoming more aware about online security threats and thus realising the need for online security and antivirus solutions, the study said.
While the study found that almost 90 per cent Indians have an antivirus installed on their PC, however, majority of the users (62 per cent) felt their job is done once they install an antivirus on their PC.
This reflects that the Indian consumers are still are not completely aware of the repercussions of cyber attacks, the study said.
Consumers are becoming increasingly aware about security threats they are exposed to in the online environment and are looking for security solutions that work in the backend and let them enjoy their online world without any worries or interruptions, Microsoft India Director (Windows Client, Consumer and Online Business) Pankaj Ukey said.
Source: PTI
Source: PTI
