Brits - Most Lackadaisical Europeans on Internet Security

Internet security company 'PC Tools' has recently conducted a poll, according to which, UK is the worst country in Western Europe when it comes to maintaining up-to-date antivirus software.

The global poll of about 4,500 people suggests that 33% of Britishers do not maintain an up-to-date security solution in comparison to only 7% French and 5% German Web users.

The survey further indicates that almost one in 10 Britishers acknowledged that they didn't have any security software installed whatsoever while surfing on the Internet in comparison to 4% of Germans and 5% of French. Furthermore, respondents in a large number said that they never made their AV solutions up-to-date, with 9% not installing one at all.

Commenting on the study, Michael Greene, Vice-President Product Strategy at PC Tools, said that while consumers were overall conscious about online security, they weren't technically skilled for the same, as reported by TechRadar on September 2, 2009.

Greene further said that since consumers in vast numbers surfed on the Internet almost daily, it became a profitable business for online criminals; therefore, there were increasing numbers of sophisticated methods for enticing consumers into following malevolent web-links or downloading similar files.

Moreover, the Brits are the worst Europeans who do not delete files that come from unfamiliar sources. The survey reveals that only 1% of British nationals remove malicious files that come via e-mail, social-networking websites or instant messaging in contrast to 9% of Germans and 2% of French.

However, the encouraging news is that 57% of Brits use an antivirus solution, with 64% of those users having auto-update switched on.

The security researchers also state that although one positive sign is that the majority of respondents are conscious of online security and have installed the relevant security software, the results of the survey suggest that people might be inflating their computers with more than the required security programs.

Besides, Symantec, another security company, earlier reported that a lot of Brits risked their online security because of the type of information they shared while browsing social-networking websites.

Related article: British Telecommunications Introduces New anti-spam System

» SPAMfighter News - 9/14/2009