“We often find that those of us who work in cyber-security overestimate the knowledge the general public has on cyber-security risks and basic secure behaviours,” said Amy Baker, VP of marketing at Wombat Security Technologies, in a release.
New research from Wombat provided an analysis of personal security behaviours of UK and US workers that play a big role in securing information, devices and systems both at work and home.
More than 2,000 working adults, 1,000 from each country, were surveyed about cyber-security topics and best practices.
The report discovered that among other things, people in the UK are more cyber-savvy than those in the US.
Nineteen percent of UK respondents have been victimised by identity theft as opposed to 30 percent of US workers.
More than half (54 percent) of US respondents believe a trusted location, such as a nice hotel or international airport, indicates a trusted WiFi network. Meanwhile, just 27 percent of UK respondents shared this belief.
Fifty-eight percent of US workers believe an antivirus software can stop a cyber-attack compared to 37 percent of UK respondents.
Despite half of employees having a basic knowledge of phishing, 30 percent of workers do not know what phishing is and 10 percent are unable to provide a guess. Furthermore, 63 percent of US respondents and 58 percent of UK respondents don't know what ransomware is.
When it comes to regularly using their company's device at home, respondents view and post to social media (54 percent in the US and 36 percent in the UK), stream media such as music and video (57 percent in the US and 28 percent in the UK), shop online (58 percent in the US and 45 percent in the UK) and play games (52 percent in the US and 30 percent in the UK).
These same US workers allow their family members and trusted friends to check/reply to email (46 percent), view/post to social media (43 percent), stream media (47 percent), shop online (48 percent) and play games (50 percent) on their work devices.
“Increasing personal security measures is critical to preventing identity theft and related cyber-attacks, especially in our continuously connected world,” said Baker.
