6 in 10 Indians are proactively securing their devices

MUMBAI, INDIA: A new survey by ESET has revealed increased awareness among Indians toward device protection.

According to the ESET Asia Cyber Savviness Report 2015, users in India and Indonesia take the most proactive steps to secure their devices and online activities.

The survey showed that out of 62.6 percent Indian users knowing about cyberattacks, 60 percent are taking actual steps to prevent it. Measures taken by users include changing their passwords regularly, backing up their data, and installing the latest versions of cyber security software.

The survey revealed that users in India and Indonesia took the highest number of precautions despite having the lowest levels of overall cyber security awareness. Overall, the study underlined that 93 percent of online users in Asia worry about cyber security.

The results indicated a lack of basic cyber security knowledge and understanding across all six countries surveyed, namely-Singapore, Thailand, Hongkong, Indonesia and India. Among these countries, Malaysia with 30 percent score stood first for overall cyber-savviness, ahead of Singapore at 27.2 percent, India at 27.3 percent, Thailand with 26.7 percent, Hong Kong with 25.6 percent and Indonesia with 25 percent, respectively.

The survey revealed other startling facts. One of these is users in the region still have a long way to go in understanding online security and protecting themselves. In fact, 3 out of 5 consumers were unable to answer basic cyber security questions correctly.

Despite the fact that Asia-Pacific region has the highest number of Internet users in the world, the results showed that users in this region don’t know how to stay safe online. Moreover, a large share of those polled committed basic mistakes like using passwords containing easy to access personal information such as their date of birth or surname, storing passwords and credit card details online, and connecting to unsecured public Wi-Fi networks.

A startling revelation was despite being aware about cyber threats and their consequences, users continue to follow risky practices. For example, though 88 percent of users were aware that breached devices should be disconnected from the Internet, only 57 percent actually disconnected.