Women generally less concerned about cyber-threats: Kaspersky survey

  • Only 19% of women believe they may fall victim, compared with 25% of men
  • 13% of women have no security solutions on their devices, compared with 10% of men
Women generally less concerned about cyber-threats: Kaspersky survey

ACCORDING to the results of a survey carried out by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, female Internet users are less concerned about protecting themselves against online threats than men.
 
This attitude can have dangerous consequences, since there is no code of chivalry that would discourage a cybercriminal from preying on women, Kaspersky Lab said in a statement.
 
Only 19% of women believe they may fall victim to cybercriminals while every fourth man (25%) considers it possible.
 
Moreover, according to the survey, women generally know less about cyber-threats than men. For example, 27% of men and 38% of women are unaware of ransomware; 23% of men and 34% of women know little about mobile malware; 21% of men and 34% of women have a limited idea what an exploit is.
 
This lack of awareness can cause women to pay less attention to protecting themselves against cyber-threats, Kaspersky Lab said.
 
When they allow other people (children, friends, colleagues, etc.) to use their main device, 36% of women do nothing to protect their data because they “see no risk.” Only 28% of men behave in the same way.
 
Also, 75% of men and 68% of women make backup copies; while 13% of women have no security solutions on their devices, compared with 10% of men.
 
At the same time, in the survey it appears that over a 12-month period more men than women faced malware incidents (35% vs 27%), and men were more likely to suffer financial consequences (22% vs 19%).
 
Typically, men more often spend money on buying special programs designed to clean the system or to protect it in the future, whereas women prefer to turn to IT professionals for help.
 
There are some other threats that men face more often than women: For example, in 2014 cyberattacks targeting users’ financial data were encountered by 47% of men but just 39% of women.
 
This may be because women are particularly concerned about the security of financial transactions compared with other online activities. Thus, 59% of men and 64% of women are worried about the risk of online fraud affecting their bank accounts while 46% of men and 51% women feel vulnerable when making online payments.
 
In addition, female respondents are slightly more worried about someone spying on them via their webcam (41% vs 38%).
 
To download a copy of the Kaspersky Lab Consumer Security Risks Survey 2014 report, click here.
 
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Study: Women have more web-smarts than men?
 
Some gaps but no divide for gender in the cloud: F-Secure
 
 
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