Kaspersky Lab Survey: Consumers View Online Communication Tools as Unsecure, Use them Anyway
Woburn, MA – November 20, 2015 - Many consumers consider online communication channels to be unsecure, but still use them regularly, according to the findings of the Kaspersky Lab 2015 Consumer Security Risks Survey. According to the research, 70 percent of participants consider photo messengers to be an unsecure online communication tool. While 62 percent do not find mobile (including social) instant messengers secure and 61 percent do not trust online VoIP services.
However, respondents cited social media messengers (37%), mobile messengers (25%) and VoIP calls (15%) as some of the most frequently used tools for online communications. According to the respondents, these communication tools are not only used at home but also in public places, including in the office and while travelling.
Moreover, 17 percent of those surveyed said they had shared explicit content at least once despite the clear concerns about the security of such platforms. These results show a contradiction between what people claim they fear regarding security of online communications and what they do despite those fears.
These findings are confirmed by the results of the Cyber Savvy Quiz in which 35 percent said they exchanged private information via any apps available to them; with only 28 percent saying they did not discuss personal issues online.
“Naturally, we do not advocate that people should stop using online messengers. However, caution is needed when sending information via the Internet. For instance, you shouldn’t connect to communication channels that are known to be unsecure, such as a public Wi-Fi network, because information may be intercepted. It is also important that consumers are careful when choosing online tools for personal communication, and only use a device reliably protected by a password and an Internet security solution,” comments Elena Kharchenko, Head of Consumer Product Management, Kaspersky Lab.
Kaspersky Lab offers the multi-platform solutions, Kaspersky Total Security and Kaspersky Internet Security, which prevent malware from intercepting confidential information and warn the user about threats such as unsecure Wi-Fi connections, webcams or microphones being accessed, redirects to illegitimate webpages, and much more.
To learn more on how to be safe online, click https://blog.kaspersky.com/tag/cybersavvy. To check if your current online behavior can lead to confidential information leaked, test yourself here: https://blog.kaspersky.com/cyber-savvy-quiz/.
About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is one of the world’s fastest-growing cybersecurity companies and the largest that is privately-owned. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users (IDC, 2014). Since 1997 Kaspersky Lab has been an innovator in cybersecurity and provides effective digital security solutions and threat intelligence for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab is an international company, operating in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 400 million users worldwide.
Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
Media contact:
Sarah Kitsos
sarah.kitsos@kaspersky.com
781-503-2615
