Survey: Consumer Confidence In Internet Safety Drops

  • May 14, 2007

Trend Micro Incorporated recently announced the results of its second Internet Confidence and Safety Survey which is carried out twice a year and provides an overall measurement of consumers' confidence and perceived safety of the Internet.

According to the survey, users who felt confident when using the Internet increased from a confidence index of 39.0 to an index of 39.9. However, while the overall confidence score had increased, consumers in the United States and France indicated that their confidence had dropped from an index of 44.4 and 41.1 respectively in August to 43.8 and 39 in February. The increase in confidence was led by the U.K., Germany and Japan, each of which demonstrated an increase. Of these, the U.K. showed the most notable increase in confidence, from 42.2 in August to 46 in February. The index comprises a complex calculation based upon a proprietary collection of confidence and behavior ratings.

The survey also found that a vast majority of consumers still use credit cards to make purchases over the Internet and bank online. Worryingly, these results indicate that in spite of the increasing governmental and media attention given to cyber attacks such as identity theft and fraud, consumers are still growing more confident about their online safety. With the growth of Web threats and the technologically sophisticated tools malware creators have at their disposal, consumers need to demonstrate a high level of caution when spending time online.

Other noteworthy findings, from the countries and issues section of the Internet Confidence and Safety survey include:

  • Less than half (45 percent) of the U.S. respondents feel very safe when using Internet today; a drop of 6 percent from August 2006 to February 2007. Similarly, the percentage of U.S. respondents who believe the Internet will be much safer in the next 6 months also dropped by 6 percent from 32 percent in August 2006 to 26 percent in February 2007. Correspondingly, from August 2006 to February 2007, significantly fewer U.S. respondents participated in risky online behavior, such as online banking, using credit cards to make purchases over the Internet, downloading freeware/shareware and using public hotspots for Wi-Fi access.
  • In the United Kingdom, the percentage of respondents who reported infection of malware on their computers in the past 6 months dropped dramatically by 12 percent from 43 percent in August 2006 to 31 percent in February. Meanwhile, only 17 percent of the Japanese respondents reported that their computers had been infected by malware over the past 6 months; a decrease of 6 percent from August 2006.

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