{"id":175827,"date":"2021-07-29T09:27:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T03:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/?p=175827"},"modified":"2021-07-29T09:27:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T03:57:55","slug":"consumer-cybersecurity-concerns-increase-amidst-pandemic-but-security-practices-fall-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/consumer-cybersecurity-concerns-increase-amidst-pandemic-but-security-practices-fall-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Cybersecurity Concerns Increase Amidst Pandemic, but Security Practices Fall Short"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>91% of Americans Worried About Online Security Threats; Nearly Half Say They\u2019re at Greater Risk Now Than Before the Pandemic, and Almost Two-Thirds Believe That Cybercriminals Could Target Their Household in the Next Year.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-press-details-body-text\">\n<p>According to a new Sophos Home\u00a0survey, <strong>\u201cThe State of Consumer Home Cybersecurity 2021,\u201d<\/strong> consumers are increasingly concerned about their online security and imminent attacks. Forty-five percent of consumers say they\u2019re more at risk of being hit by an attack now than they were before the pandemic, and 61% believe their household could be the target of an attack in the next year. Despite these concerns, the research findings show that security practices are falling short for many.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsumers are largely in the dark about cybersecurity,\u201d said Chester Wisniewski, Sophos principal research scientist. \u201cThe findings show that many consumers are woefully uninformed about threats like\u00a0ransomware, the likelihood and risk of these threats within their homes, and how to protect their families. The data also indicates that a number of consumers think they know more about cybersecurity than they actually do. All of this results in a false sense of security, and while it\u2019s no excuse, it\u2019s no doubt a reason why many consumers are failing to meet the security basics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The survey polled 2,500 consumers across all regions of the U.S. Key\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sophos.com\/en-us\/medialibrary\/PDFs\/Consumer\/sophos-home-consumer-survey-2021-infographic.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">findings<\/a>\u00a0include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"bulletList\">\n<li>91% of consumers are worried about online security threats affecting their household \u2013 specifically viruses and malware (60%), identity theft (55%), financial fraud (48%), and ransomware (45%); for parents, the top concern is inappropriate content (39%)<\/li>\n<li>45% believe they\u2019re more at risk of being hit by an attack now than they were 12 months ago, before the pandemic<\/li>\n<li>18% report that someone in their household suffered from a ransomware attack, nearly half of which occurred in the last year; 29% of which paid the ransom<\/li>\n<li>69% believe that working from home introduces new security risks<\/li>\n<li>61% believe that they or someone in their household could be the target of an online attack in the next 12 months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cRansomware has become a household term and an understandable concern for everyday consumers \u2013 especially in the wake of the\u00a0Colonial Pipeline\u00a0and\u00a0Kaseya\u00a0attacks \u2013 but the fact of the matter is that ransomware attackers are looking to make a profit and they\u2019re\u00a0targeting businesses\u00a0first and foremost,\u201d said Wisniewski. \u201cConsumers aren\u2019t off limits, however. While the risks to consumers are lower than those for well-funded organizations, they\u2019re still very real risks and consumers need to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their families. They simply can\u2019t afford to overlook basic security practices like backing up data, protecting passwords, and updating and patching devices and applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Online Security Bad Habits<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The new research findings shine light on several areas where consumer security practices are lacking, including:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"bulletList\">\n<li>20% never backup data to the cloud<\/li>\n<li>24% don\u2019t have or use a password manager<\/li>\n<li>36% don\u2019t update or patch their operating system and applications when prompted, or check to do so at least weekly<\/li>\n<li>Just 35% of parents have set up separate user accounts on devices that their children use, and only 44% have user passwords set up at all on these devices<\/li>\n<li>Only half (50%) of parents have added parental controls on devices that their children use, and only 42% have set up safe browsing or a web content filter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Silver Lining<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The good news is that most households (83%) have a designated \u201cIT boss\u201d who manages security on all devices within their homes; only 10% don\u2019t, according to the research. Additionally, nearly half of consumers say they\u2019re also responsible for managing devices outside of their homes. This number is highest in the Northeast, where a majority (54%) own this responsibility for extended family and friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>91% of Americans Worried About Online Security Threats; Nearly Half Say They\u2019re at Greater Risk Now Than Before the Pandemic, and Almost Two-Thirds Believe That Cybercriminals Could Target Their Household in the Next Year. According to a new Sophos Home\u00a0survey, \u201cThe State of Consumer Home Cybersecurity 2021,\u201d consumers are increasingly concerned about their online security [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9231],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-175827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}