Survey reveals American PC systems at serious risk

A new survey conducted by online security experts McAfee Inc. and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) has this week revealed that US-based PC users are not as readily protected against cyber attacks as they would like to believe. A new survey conducted by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) has revealed that supposedly protected PC users in the United States are at considerable risk of cyber attack. REUTERS/Sherwin Crasto

A new survey conducted by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) has revealed that supposedly protected PC users in the United States are at considerable risk of cyber attack. REUTERS/Sherwin CrastoMore pointedly, while the majority of Americans surf the Net safe in the knowledge that their home PC systems are covered against virus and spyware attacks thanks to installed anti-virus software, survey results suggest that many are finding themselves unknowingly vulnerable through disabled or outdated protection programs. The Reuters news agency reports that 87 percent of those US-based users polled by the survey claimed to have anti-virus software installed on their systems, with a further 73 percent offering they had the added security of a firewall program, and 70 percent claiming the benefit of anti-spyware software. However, after their systems has been remotely scanned (with prior permission) by McAfee and the NCSA, results quickly revealed that although some 94 percent of those scanned did indeed have anti-virus software, only 50 percent of users had bothered to update it regularly, leaving systems exposed. Furthermore, while 81 percent of respondents were found to have firewall cover, only 64 percent actually had it running. And, of the 70 percent claiming to have anti-spyware programs, a mere 55 percent were benefiting from having actually enabled the software to grant them extra protection.The joint survey polled 378 Americans from August 02 through to September 10 regarding the perceived security of their home-based PC systems, and revealed that almost one in ten had fallen foul of identity theft at one time or another. Bari Abdul, a vice president at California-based McAfee Inc., offered that the vast majority of today’s virus programs were malicious in their intent – a far cry from those released by old school ‘hackers’ looking to pull an online prank for the sake of notoriety. "Most of the action has gone to stealing identity," he said after speaking at an NCSA-sponsored security conference.With malicious spyware software often secreted in free screen-savers or free video file downloads, Federal Trade Commission chairman Deborah Majoras advises computer users to do all they can to adequately protect themselves. Majoras warns that users should select ‘delete’ over ‘reply’ on obvious spam or suspicious e-mail that could be ‘phishing’ for personal data with which identity fraud could be committed.