Internet security in Indian homes

The objective of the survey conducted by IDC was to assess the Internet security behaviour of home users. With a target of 400 respondents this survey explores the awareness of home users with regard to viruses, spam and hacking in order to understand the drivers and inhibitors of Internet security solution usage. All respondents contacted owned a PC and accessed the Net at home

Type of connection: Dial-up dominates the Internet access connection type for households. Broadband (cable & DSL) currently hold 24 percent of the access business in SEC A & B households.

Awareness about security terms: The survey shows a very high awareness of terms such as virus hacking and spamming with 97 percent, 95 percent and 96 percent awareness respectively. The experience of being subject to a virus attack is only 48 percent, hacking 24 percent, and 77 percent mentioned receiving spam. Contrary to the popular belief that users may not be aware of different Internet Security threats, findings show that 70 percent are aware of the different types of viruses that are circulating.

Awareness & usage of security measures for households: 46 percent of users of legal antivirus software say they use it primarily because it is hassle free and reliable despite the higher cost. There is also a feeling among some of the users that pirated software gets corrupted easier and creates problems in the long run.

Only 59 percent of antivirus software users regularly update their antivirus software. Among the ones who do, 47 percent update it more than twice a month.

Top activities on the Internet: E-mail, chat, online reading, e-greetings or cards, information search and downloads are the top activities on the Internet in that order. Interestingly 31 percent of the users also use Internet for SMS or text messaging or ring tone downloads due to the booming mobile telephony market.

Internet usage vs. age: Users between 21-30 years are the primary users of the Internet at home. Interestingly 5 percent of the users are less than 14 years old. This age profile is likely to face the challenges of security and privacy.

Source: IDC