Kaspersky Lab has found that three-quarters (74%) of Internet users would download a potentially malicious file, because they lack the ‘cyber-savviness’ they need to spot dangers online.
The results of a quiz, which questioned 18,000 Internet users all over 18 years old from 16 countries around the world including a total of 1,348 respondents from India with an aim to learn about their online habits, has raised concerns about the ability of users to recognize online threats.
The cyber-awareness of Internet users was tested during the quiz when they were asked to download the song ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles. Out of the four download options, only one was a safe wma. file, intentionally named ‘Betles.Yesterday.wma.’ This was chosen by just a quarter (26%) of respondents, who spotted that it was a harmless file type, despite the spelling error in the file’s name.
The most dangerous file option, exe. contained the well-known ‘mp3’ term as part of its name, ‘Beatles_Yesterday.mp3.exe,’ tricking a third (34%) of respondents into selecting it. 14% chose a scr. screensaver download, a file type which has recently been used to spread malicious material, and 26% selected the zip. option, which could have contained some dangerous files.
The findings follow recent consumer research from Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, which disclosed that 45% of Internet users have encountered a malware incident in the last 12 months, yet 13% of those who had been affected didn’t know how.
Altaf Halde, MD (South Asia), Kaspersky Lab, said, “Consumers are susceptible to scams and phishing attacks as they are less aware of security threats. However, no matter how cyber-savvy a person is, it is unsafe to go online without putting security solutions in place. There are several anti-phishing software one can purchase or even download for free to keep their computers safe. They all come with analysers to check the authenticity of web-links and websites. If anything seems ‘fishy’, the software will block it and keep your computer safe from this sort of hard.”
