Report: Aussies practising risky behaviour around data protection

Basic practices for securing data, protecting identity and sharing information are lacking, despite increased threats and heightened concern over cybercrime, according to the 2021 Bitdefender Global Report: Cybersecurity and Online Behaviours. The report reveals how consumers across various age groups and socio-demographic backgrounds behave on popular platforms, applications and devices, affecting cybersecurity risk. The report, based on a survey that polled more than 10,000 consumer internet users across 11 countries, examines the use of popular online platforms and services, personal cybersecurity practices, level of exposure to threats and more.

Bogdan Botezatu, Director (threat research and reporting) at Bitdefender, believes that understanding consumer online security behaviour trends is crucial for strengthening cybersecurity across society at large. Botezatu added that cybercriminals continuously explore new ways to exploit human weaknesses to steal sensitive data, extort money, or gain a foothold inside systems. “By understanding everyday cybersecurity practices, we can better gauge potential risks and vulnerabilities to educate consumers on ways to protect themselves more effectively, such as how to use prevention, detection and digital identity protection technologies to stop attacks from being successful,” Botezatu said.

The report revealed that poor password practices are still common, with 50% of those surveyed stating that they use a single password for all online accounts, while 32% use just a few passwords and reuse them across multiple accounts. Additionally, 27% of respondents use simple passwords such as ‘1234’ to lock their mobile phones and 11% do not lock their mobile phones at all. The use of simple passwords is most common among 18- to 44-year-olds, and males self-reported using simple passwords more than females (31% compared to 23%).

Many respondents also don’t use cybersecurity protection software on mobile phones, with nearly 35% stating they do not use antivirus on their mobile phones. The most common reasons cited for this were: 30% believed mobile phones do not need it, 22% felt it is too expensive, and 16% thought security was built in. An average of 41% do not use private browsers and 52% do not use a VPN.

Mobile phone scams lead the threats, with 61% of respondents revealing that they have experienced at least one mobile cybersecurity threat in the last 12 months. Mobile phone scams involving unsolicited texts and calls were the most frequent threats noted in the survey at 36%, followed by phishing at 23%, data breaches at 12%, social network impersonation at 11%, financial fraud at 9% and ransomware at 8%. Although few respondents had personally experienced financial fraud, it ranked the highest in terms of concerns, with 41% stating they were very worried about the threat. The age group most concerned with overall threats were 35- to 44-year-olds, followed by those in the 25- to 34-year-old range.

Parents were queried about how much they supervise their children’s internet browsing behaviours and application installation. The survey found an average of 36% of children have fully unsupervised access on computers, mobile phones and tablets. The United States led all other countries in the survey with unsupervised access approaching 50% compared to all other countries reporting less than 40%.

When analysing all respondent behaviours, from password reuse, to the number of online accounts and services, to sharing of account details and lack of security services on their devices, almost 60% of consumers were deemed ‘exposed’ or ‘rather exposed’, with only 11% described as ‘secure’ in terms of their cybersecurity practices.

Smart phones were used most frequently to access online services, with 74% of respondents primarily accessing online services using a personal smartphone, and 61% of those using the Android operating system. Personal laptops came in second at 45%, followed by Smart TVs at 30% and personal desktops at 28%. Additionally, 23% of respondents reported using at least one work-issued device to access personal online accounts.

The survey revealed that 63% of respondents have a social media account and 54% an online shopping account. Other top services used include video streaming (40%), telecommunication and health platforms (29%) and utility services (28%). With an average of eight online platforms used per respondent, there were key differences across age groups and gender when it came to the top three platforms used (Facebook, WhatsApp and Gmail). At 51%, female usage on Facebook was higher than males (42%), with the 35- to 44-year-old age group 21% more likely to use WhatsApp compared to 18- to 22-year-olds who are 26% less likely to use Gmail compared to those aged 55–65.

The survey found that 51% of respondents know how to change internet browser privacy settings and 46% read through privacy policies when signing up for new accounts. However, 46% also stated that they dislike choosing new passwords for each new account and 38% dislike requirements to use multi-factor authentication. Personal identification details, including name, birthdate and physical address were commonly shared online, with males more likely to share their details than females. Gender was the most common detail shared, with 54% of respondents ‘always’ or ‘almost’ sharing, followed by name (43%), personal email address and birthdate (40%) and physical address (29%). Young adults aged 18-24 were more likely to share their personal information than other age groups.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Song_about_summer