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Yesterday was “Safer Internet Day” in the European Union. To mark the occasion, Eurostat, the statistical office of the E.U., released a selection of statistics on Internet security: “Nearly one third of internet users in the EU27 caught a computer virus.” The data was collected from a survey on the usage of information and communication technologies in households and by individuals in the E.U.
Leaving aside the misleading title, where the term virus is used instead of the more accurate malware (this error still happens a lot, particularly in the media), the study reveals some very interesting and also somewhat disturbing numbers. On average across all countries surveyed, 31 percent of individuals who have been using the Internet in the 12 months prior to the survey reported an infection, and 3 percent reported a financial loss. Now 3 percent may not sound like a lot, but considering a population of nearly a half-billion and 54 percent (as of 2007) of households having access to the Internet, that means millions(!) of victims have lost money to cybercrime.
In spite of the response that “an IT security software or tool was used to protect their private computer and data” by 84 percent of the individuals, such a large number of infections shows that this problem can’t be solved by technology alone. Using state-of-the-art technologies such as web reputation and file reputation with real-time detection data in the cloud certainly helps, but some user awareness is still necessary.
So watch where you browse and what links you click in emails and on social networking sites. Let Safer Internet Day 2011 inspire you to spend some time learning about how to secure yourself more effectively on the Internet. You’re welcome to use our Cybersafety Resource Portal.
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Tags: Email & Web Security, malware, security, social networking
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