Automatic protections don't make you safer online

Automatic protections don't make you safer online, MSU researchers say: Threats to online privacy and security continue to plague Internet users, and the protections from Internet providers are only part of the answer, according to a national survey conducted by Michigan State University researchers. Professors Robert LaRose, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, and Nora Rifon, Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing, are co-directors of the survey sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Spam is the biggest problem, report 66 percent of Internet users, followed by spyware, cited by 42 percent; computer viruses, cited by 35 percent, and fraudulent e-mail or phishing attempts, reported by 34 percent. Nineteen out of 20 users have spam and virus protection. But 15 percent of the respondents have no protection against spyware, 28 percent have no defenses against phishing, and similar numbers are unaware of spyware or phishing defenses. Three-fifths of those surveyed use at least one of the default protections from their Internet provider, and a similar number update protections automatically.

However, those who use Internet service provider protections or automatic updates feel no safer than those who do not. "Those who set up their own protections regarding Web site verification receive less spam than those who rely on the Internet provider's protection and far less than those who don't have spam protection at all. It pays to do it yourself to avoid a false sense of security," LaRose said. "People who manually activate a scan of their system to look for updates and problems rather than letting the program automatically scan receive far fewer phishing e-mails and experience far fewer problems with spyware." While 87 percent of the respondents feel personally responsible for online safety to some degree, 66 percent are sometimes overwhelmed by the complexity of protecting themselves, and only about one in 10 users is confident that he or she can stay safe online. Only 40 percent of Internet users agree that online safety should be their sole responsibility, 74 percent assign responsibility to Internet providers, 75 percent to software companies and 47 percent to the government. And, many users still endanger themselves online by opening unexpected e-mail attachments (24 percent), clicking inside pop-ups (27 percent), clicking on links in e-mails (64 percent), failing to read the "fine print" before downloading files (72 percent) or registering at a Web site (58 percent). Fifteen percent of the respondents post personal information or pictures of themselves on sites that could be accessible to strangers. "Clearly there is a need for continuing user education. Online safety should be a required part of every computer literacy course," Rifon said. The survey was completed by 557 home Internet users contacted by phone in November and December of 2006. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The fieldwork was completed by Schulman, Ronca, and Bucuvalas Inc. of Silver Spring, Md. Additional results can be found online at www.msu.edu/~isafety.