The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and McAfee, Inc., in coordination with the kick-off of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, announced the results of a comprehensive consumer online security research study. The report reveals a significant gap between consumers’ perceptions that they are protected from various Internet threats used by cyber criminals, while in reality, people were either unprotected or under- protected. The McAfee-NCSA Online Safety Study shows that while consumers think they are protected (93 percent feel safe from viruses), they are actually at risk because of outdated security software on their computer that doesn’t protect them from new malware created everyday.

Nearly all consumers (98 percent) who responded to the survey agreed keeping online security up-to-date is important. To address these concerns, consumers told researchers they had taken the following measures:

87 percent said they use anti-virus software
73 percent use a firewall
70 percent use anti-spyware software
27 percent use anti-phishing software

While nearly every survey respondent (98 percent) acknowledged the importance of having up to date security on their computer, nearly half of all scanned computers (48 percent) had not been updated within the month. Survey respondents also acknowledged they had been infected with malware:

54 percent had been hit with a virus
44 percent thought they were infected with spyware

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