AOL survey finds homes user ignorant to online threats
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A survey conducted by internet service provider America Online (AOL) found that 20% of home computers were infected by a virus or worm, and that various forms of snooping programs such as spyware and adware are on 80% of systems.
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Need to be wary of online threats Home PC users need to be wary of security vulnerabilities when they go online, according to software firm CA.â¦
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As part of a month long effort to highlight the dangers of online threats, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and America Online (AOL) released survey results that paint a bleak picture of the home PC security landscape.
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A study of home PCs released on Monday found that about 80 percent had been infected with spyware almost entirely unbeknownst to their users.
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ComputerWorld AU: Respondents to the 2004 Ernst &amp; Young Global Information Security Survey cited lack of security awareness by end users as the top barrier to achieving the required level of security.
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Think your PC is safe? Think again. A new study indicates your home computer is likely bogged down with spyware, viruses and other scourges wrought by hackers and PC pranksters.
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Apparently, some two thirds of home users think they are safe from online threats, but 20 percent of home computers are infected by a virus, and 80 percent have problems with spyware and adware.
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A study from security vendor McAfee found that search query results returned by Google, AOL, and Ask.com are less likely to lead viewers to dangerous Web sites than they were six months ago. The study also found that Yahoo and MSN are not following that trend toward safer search results.
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Spyware is rife and virus infection commonplace yet many home users reckon they are safe from online threats.
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Oct. 26 - The warning for home computer users is: When you log on, look out. A new study from America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance shows that two-thirds of home computers have no protective firewall and 80% are infected with spyware.
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Parents' tend to worry about the obvious Internet dangers, such as porn, sexual predators and, to a lesser extent, misinformation. According to new studies by a non-profit group, Wired Safety, there is now another cause for alarm: cyber bullying.
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Opinion: Whether they realize it or not, many people leave sensitive information out in plain view on Web sites. But sooner or later, a Google search will dig it up.
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By Marilyn Elias  Most parents don't believe in blind trust when it comes to making sure their children are using the Internet safely, a large national survey on media use suggested Tuesday.
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Although as many as 90 percent of US home computers have been infected with spyware at some time, a majority of PC owners don&#39;t know how to solve the problem, according to a poll released Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - Users of online banking sites tend to bypass critical clues that the integrity of those sites may have been compromised, according to the working draft of a study released on Sunday by researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study, which will be formally released in May at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, California, underscores how new technologies and warnings can't completely protect Internet users fromÂ scams such as phishing. It also throws doubt on the effectiveness of site-authentication images, which have been implemented by financial institutions such as Bank of America, Vanguard Group, and ING Bank. The images, selected by the customers, are shown when a bank customer logs in from a different computer than is normally used. The study involved 67 users, with more than 90 percent under 30 years old. Because of varying parameters in the study, not all qualified to be included in the results for each of the three tests. Users were ask to conduct common online banking tasks, although precautions were taken to ensure users weren't put at risk. For the first test, HTTPS indicators -- which show that an encrypted connection is enabled -- were removed from the address bar along with the lock that appears in the bottom right corner of Internet Explorer 6. Although the absence of HTTPS indicators should be a warning, all 67 participants continued with their transactions, the study found. The researchers then conducted a test where the site-authentication image was removed along with the HTTPS indicators. The researchers wrote it is the first empirical investigation into site-authentication images. Only two of 60 people chose not to log in when the image was removed, a key sign that a site may have been tampered with or is a phishing site, the study said. Of users who were actually using their own bank account for the study, 23 of 25 continued to enter their passwords. "We find them [site-authentication images] to be ineffective," the study concludes. In the last test, researchers made it more obvious, this time replacing a password-entry page with a warning page from Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3. The page advises of a problem with the security certificate of the chosen Web site. Despite the warning, 30 of 57 users entered their passwords. The study comes as U.S. banks are beefing up their authentication technologies amid new requirements from federal regulators. In October 2005, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) mandated that U.S. banks implement stronger authentication protections by the end of last year, particularly for high-risk transactions such as sending money to a different person's account. Bank of America uses site-authentication image technology called SiteKey. Users pick an image and assign a phrase to it while also setting three "challenge" questions. If a user logs in from a computer that doesn't already have a cookie, they're asked one of the challenge questions and then to verify the image and phrase. If the image doesn't appear or the phrase is wrong, consumers shouldn't proceed. Bank of America said the image system benefits users since it's free and doesn't involve extra hardware or software.
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Consumers are becoming more worried about the potential dangers of e-commerce in the wake of data breaches that have occurred in recent years, according to a survey by the Ponemon Institute.
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InfoWorld - The Web is scarier than most people realize, according to research published recently by Google.