74 p.c. of online users fear hacking of social networking account: Study

Online users in the country today are more scared of their social networking account being hacked as compared to loss of personal data in the cyber world, a Microsoft India study said.

About 74 per cent of the respondents said they worry about hacking of their social networking account as opposed to loss of personal data, which accounted for just 16 per cent and credit card fraud (five per cent), the study said.

The survey was hosted on Microsoft India's 'Windows and Me' Facebook page and received responses from over thousands of consumers, it said.

About 50 per cent of respondents said they spent close to five hours on the internet daily.

Connecting with people online emerged as the favourite activity, with 40 per cent people saying they spend this time on social networking sites.

Other key activities included research (with 35 per cent) and entertainment (22 per cent).

The study revealed that nearly one-fourth of the participants (over 23 per cent) said they have been victims of cyber attacks.

Of this, 67 per cent people said they had suffered loss of personal data, followed by 19 per cent users witnessing e-mail account hacking.

"The large number of cyber attacks has also led to people becoming more aware about online security threats and thus realising the need for online security and anti-virus solutions," the study said.

While the study found that almost 90 per cent Indians have an anti-virus installed on their PC, however, majority of the users (62 per cent) felt their job is done once they install an anti-virus on their PC.

This reflects that the Indian consumers are still are not completely aware of the repercussions of cyber attacks, the study said.

"Consumers are becoming increasingly aware about security threats they are exposed to in the online environment and are looking for security solutions that work in the back-end and let them enjoy their online world without any worries or interruptions," Microsoft India Director (Windows Client, Consumer and Online Business) Pankaj Ukey said.

source: PTI