Gary Davis
Vice President, Global Consumer Marketing Gary is the worldwide marketing lead for McAfee Consumer, Mobile ...
From tweens and teens to silver surfers, more people are jumping onto multiple Internet connected devices every day. It’s very exciting to see the proliferation of information sharing and communication between people on these devices at any time. Since October is National Cyber Security Awareness month, it’s a good reminder of the challenge we face with many Americans still not stopping to think about the minimum security needs before they connect.
The latest online safety survey of U.S. consumers that National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) partnered with McAfee to conduct shows the scope of the issue. As more devices are being used on the go and by employees, this survey reveals every day disconnects between consumer’s online safety perceptions and their actual practices.
Similar to keeping ourselves healthy, Americans are aware that they need safe and secure Internet-connected devices, but they aren’t keeping up with the required actions to stay safe online. This survey has telling signs of the additional education that is needed to foster a safer Internet experience:
The need for consumers to stay educated is necessary now more than ever with nearly nine in ten Americans using their computers for banking, stock trading or reviewing personal medical information. In a recent study by McAfee on the unprotected rates of PC users globally, the United States ranked the 5th least protected country. It also uncovered that there are 19.32% of Americans browsing the Internet without any protection, 12.25% of consumers have zero security protection installed and 7.07% have security software installed but disabled.
I hope these concerned netizens take the time during the next few weeks to learn more about keeping their devices, privacy and information protected. McAfee is very excited to work with NCSA once again to bring these issues to the forefront and continue these efforts to educate the public on these very real threats to consumer’s privacy, identity and overall online safety.
For more information about this survey and tips for consumers, you can check out the:
Tags: American jobs, Bring your own device, data breach, employee policies, internet security, mobile smartphone security, national cybersecurity awareness month, NCSA, New online safety survey, online safety, personal tablet, Small busines, Stop.Think.Connect, U.S. Economy
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