Americans say they are worried about getting hacked, but many of them don’t take even the most basic steps to protect themselves, according to a study released Wednesday by Bitdefender. The firm’s research says that one-third of U.S. consumers don’t use anti-virus software, and 30 percent use the same password, or very similar passwords, for all their accounts.
Among young people, 18-29 years old, the results are even more dismal, with nearly half (44 percent) saying they use the same or similar passwords across their digital lives.
Bitdefender surveyed a representative sample of 1,197 U.S. adults for the study.
Perhaps worst of all, only 23 percent say they back up their data. Those folks are in serious danger of losing all their family photos some day.
The news isn’t all bad, however. About half the population said they used multiple passwords and at least one privacy-enhancing technology – such as a virtual private network or antivirus software — every month. And while most folks use public WiFi hotspots — who doesn’t? — users are taking precautions there. Only about 1 in 5 say they access financial accounts or other sensitive information while on coffee-shop WiFi.
Bitdefender offers security products, so the firm has an interest in telling the story of unprotected users. But the results here jive with other, similar studies. Last year, for example, Microsoft said 24 percent of users weren’t using security-ware.
The Bitdefender study doesn’t offer any explanation for the usage patterns, so I’ll suggest one: Antivirus can be clunky to use and doesn’t always protect consumers anyway. Most folks encounter it as a free trial on new computers which upon expiration persists and harasses them with popups. In other words, antivirus products have a mixed reputation. That’s sad, because it really is crazy to connect your computer to the entire planet without having some security in place. If you’re feeling guilty right about now, here’s a pretty good roundup of free antivirus products you can try, courtesy of PCMag.com.
And as an old security pro told me years ago, the best antivirus software is a good backup. If you do nothing else, at least go buy a portable hard drive and make a second copy of all your important files.
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