G Data® Security Survey: Americans at a Greater Risk of Modern Malware

Americans misinformed about malware infection

G Data Software, one of the world’s first antivirus providers, has recently released a new study “How do users assess threats on the Internet?,” according to which due to scattered knowledge and misconceptions, American computer users are more vulnerable to Internet threats. According to the report, Americans are not well-informed about the present-day complexities of the threat landscape. The survey included almost 16,000 computer users from 11 countries, with more than 5,500 users from the US alone. Of all the Americans surveyed, most of them believe that infected computers will show signs of infection through crashes, slowdowns, or pop-up messages. However, in reality, aided by superior technologies, today’s malware pose security threats by stealing personal information without risking detection.

When asked out of porn and hobby sites, which sites pose potential danger, more than 40% Americans voted for the former. However, hobby and amateur sites pose a greater risk of infection than porn sites because these are much slower in removing malware. They take advantage of the fact that users are not careful while browsing through these sites.

Out of the various findings that the study reports, some notable findings include:

• Out of all the Americans surveyed, 89% reported using security software to protect their computers against malware. Of these, 46% used paid software and 42.7% relied on free versions.
• 82% of Americans believe that free antivirus software is as good as paid software. On the contrary, no free antivirus provides complete protection against malware.
• 54% of Americans said that malware spread through e-mail messages. However, today, the biggest threat is from malware that spread through instant messages, social networking sites, and other social media sites.
• About 53% of Americans believe that Torrent and peer-to-peer sites are the major source of malware.

G Data 2011 Security Survey concluded that despite of the widespread Internet use and awareness, majority of the users know little about the potential threats and are thus potential risk of malware infections.