Online Threats Survey Results

Thank you for visiting. This is a site detailing the results of a survey conducted here. This is only a preliminary results page, plain and rough in style. In the next few weeks I plan to add some quite interesting analysis of the findings and extras such as links to useful sites dealing with spyware, links to the most popular anti-virus sites, etc. So if you find the page interesting, please come back in one or two weeks time!


 In Q1-5 98 percent of the participants claim to know what a virus is, 96% is able to define the notion of hacker (some respondents even mention that it has multiple meanings), 95% of them know what spam is, while 92 percent know what spyware is and only 42 percent can clearly define phishing.

Answering Q6 67% of the participants agree that the Internet became more dangerous in the past 12-18 months, 30% of them even strongly agree with the statement.

In Q7 40 percent state that sensing that the Internet became more dangerous did not change his/her shopping habits at all (A1), while it had some effect on 33% of the respondents (A2-4). 27% either say that the Internet is not more dangerous or have not bought anything online yet (A5 and A6, respectively).

In Q8 52% feel that the Internet did not become less comfortable to use, while 46% feel it did so to an extent.

Answering Q9, 21% of the respondents see a decrease in spam and virus in their mail boxes, 20% receive similar amounts compared to 12-18 months ago, while 54% receive a bit more or much more junk / malicious content.

When asking the ones who answered with A1-5 to Q7 about their online shopping habits, 20% say he/she made a purchase online only once or twice, 36% say he/she shops online couple of times a year, 36% say once or twice a month, while 11% shops online even more frequently (Q10).

According to answers to Q11 the most popular items are books/CDs/DVDs (66%) and software (65%), followed by tickets (32%), clothes (18%), food (6%) and other products (54%).

In Q12 41% of the respondents state that they did not become more cautious when purchasing online, while 58% say he/she did become more cautious

Survey participants were also asked about their habits in connection with shareware programs. According to answers to Q13 96% of them have already downloaded shareware from the Internet, 37% of them do it on a regular basis.

When asked whether they have bought any shareware programs (Q14), 26% say never, 50% only once or twice, 21% a couple of times a year, while only 4% state that he/she purchases shareware regularly.

A series of questions (Q15-20) were targeting online user concerns and particularly concerns related to trying and buying shareware. 86% of the respondents are at least somewhat concerned about unknown businesses or people getting their personal information, 57% are very concerned (Q15). 85% are concerned about using their contact information for spamming them, 63% are very concerned (Q16). Hackers concern 75% to some degree, among which 53% are very concerned (Q17). Survey participants are the least concerned about crooks (63% expressed concern) (Q18). Viruses worry respondents to a greater degree: 76% are at least somewhat concerned, 49% are very concerned (Q19). Finally spyware proves to be a major concern: 84% are at least somewhat concerned, 60% are very concerned about it (Q20).

Q21 asked what protection respondents use to eliminate online threats. 87 percent use anti-virus tools, 80% use a firewall, while only 76% use an anti-spyware tool and 69% update his/her operating system frequently.

Q22, Q24-27 aimed at determining what factors build trust towards an unknown site. 54% of survey participants trust a site more if it has a publicly displayed privacy policy (A1), 58% trust the site more if it has any Seals of Approval displayed (A2), 65% trust it more if it is tasteful, professional looking and has clear navigation controls (A3). 76% trust a site more if it is advised by friends or colleagues (A4), while only 47% trust it more if other sites referred to it (A5).

In Q23 73% of respondents state that they have already seen some kind of Seals of Approval when browsing the Internet, while 11% have not seen any.

Finally Q28-32 asked what solutions could restrain online threats. 54% of the participants agree that new laws could solve the issues partly or entirely (A1); 83% say that the education of novice users could help to eliminate threats partly or entirely (A2), 90% state that more careful online behaviour of users would solve the issue partly or entirely (A3), 88% thought that more careful design, programming and testing of online systems would be required to eliminate the threats partly or entirely (A4), while 75% say that regulatory actions by the e-commerce industry itself would help to eliminate the issues partly or entirely (A5).
In Q37 several useful comments were added by respondents. Some of them emphasised the seriousness of the current situation:

'The protection people must be faster, especially now the crooks are capable of preventing you from downloading new virus signatures, even using browser. We may resort to snail-mail if this will continue.'
[R49]
'I am a programmer and systems administrator. While the mainstream media has been talking about online threats for years I always laughed them off until the last two years or so. The average scam has become more advanced. The multipart attacks and phishing attacks are particularly alarming. I have taken steps including installing security software and reconfiguring my PC. While I have experience doing this from my work I have no idea how the average person gets by.'
[R66]
'The Internet has not only brought crime right into our homes, but it has brought immense opportunities to those who would commit crimes in the privacy of their homes.'
[R188]

Some respondents debated the possible solutions:

'Yes, its more disturbing now than before, but all that is required is education and donationware to stop the crooks before they get to you…'
[R10]
'More regulation is simply a challenge to hackers to find more inventive ways to hack, it is NOT a deterrent. The only deterrent is better educated surfers, complete anti-virus, anti-spyware coverage that is actually understood and implemented, and a willingness to share information on-line about sites that are key offenders.'
[R53]
'People need education - I have used computers since the 1960's... And I have seen it all... get protected.'
[R54]
'The money-grubbing scumbags who indiscriminately attack people conducting legitimate commerce will only see the light when it is shown on them in a court of law.'
[R75]
'Laws won't work unless the Internet is willing to take the steps needed to cut offenders from having access to the Internet'
[R98]

 Most of these comments stressed the importance of educating users and get easily available (maybe even free), up-to-date protection.
Finally, there are users who simply accept the current situation:

'The world itself is a more dangerous place. Why would the Internet be any different?'
[R59]
'The threats seem so frequent, that, while trying the best I can to keep safe, I've also developed a fatalistic attitude toward online threats. It seems one is almost under constant assault.'
[R111]
'You will never clean up the Internet. Just like you will never stop murder and rape, etc.'
[R122]

Survey Demographics


The survey was filled by 188 respondents between November 2004 and January 2005. Their demographic pattern can be studied based on the last few questions [Q33-36]:
- 77 percent are male, 23 percent are female;
- 7% are below 18 years, 11% are between 18-24 years, 20% between 25-34, 22% between 35-44, 22% between 45-54, and 18% above 55 years;
- 2% have about 6 months of online experience, 3% have about 1 year, 9% between 2-3 years, 13% between 4-5, and 73% have more than 5 years of online experience;
- 26% of respondents have dial-up connection, 30% cable, 37% DSL, 1% satellite connection, 4% some other types, while 2% are not sure about the connection he/she has;
- 16% of the respondents use less than 10 hours weekly, 21% between 10-20 hours, 24% between 20-30 hours, 14% between 30-40 hours, while 25% use the Internet more than 40 hours weekly.

Contact me regarding anything in connection with this survey at survey@j-t-l.com
Joseph Ladanyi