Many lax about cyber security

Oct 7, 2009
Many lax about cyber security

SINGAPOREANS are quite lax in protecting themselves online, a survey has found.

Nearly half of the 1,874 respondents, polled online between May and July this year, believed that online fraud could happen only to people who are careless with their information.

But this is not true, Internet security experts say. People are still susceptible to attacks, such as drive-by downloads.

Such malicious software, or malware, downloads spyware or viruses onto the user's computer without his knowledge, when he might simply be visiting a website, viewing an e-mail or clicking on a pop-up window.

The survey also found that 31 per cent are vulnerable to malware and other Internet threats, as they rely solely on security software that they download for free off the Internet.

Mr Effendy Ibrahim, consumer- business lead for online-security firm Symantec Asia Pacific, said that free security software offers insufficient protection, and some might even be fake. -- MYPAPER