Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Home PCs not protected  In findings, from a detailed survey of 329 consumers that included inspections of each of their home computers, released Monday by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a picture emerges of consumers increasingly using their home PCs for sensitive, online transactions without adequately protecting themselves from cybercrime. While 77% of the survey respondents believed they were safe from online threats, two-thirds lacked current anti-virus software and did not use any firewall protection. More than half said they did not understand the difference between the two. Yet 84% stored personal data on their home PCs, and 72% routinely used the Internet for sensitive transactions, such as banking and medical data exchanges. 7:45:34 PM    comment []