Over one-fifth of home and office PC users using e-mail have
knowingly opened an unknown e-mail attachment out of sheer
curiosity, exposing themselves and others to e-mail borne viruses,
according to a survey conducted by Central Command, an Ohio-based
anti-virus software provider.
The survey was based on responses from around 90,000 PC users
worldwide and explored individuals' computer security settings and
behaviours with known computer security risks.
The results show that 31% of respondents using Instant Messaging
(IM) software have accepted and downloaded a file transfer within
the last six months, with 16% of those users claiming the file
transfer came from an unknown source.
Of the 72% of users who use e-mail at work, 38% stated that they
use an alternate web-based e-mail account for personal reasons at
work which could open a security hole for the employer. In
addition, 14% of the respondents said they open all attachments
they receive at work regardless of the sender.
The majority of the surveyed PC users expressed no interest in
changing their on-line activity or security practices after knowing
the danger of recent threats, such as CodeRed, Sircam, Magistr,
Hybris, and Loveletter.
41% of respondents claimed to have anti-virus software
installed. Of those, only 26% update their anti-virus software for
the newest virus threats at least monthly.
