AOL survey finds rampant online threats, clueless users

IDG News Service - A survey conducted by Internet service provider America Online Inc. found that 20% of home computers were infected by a virus or worm and that various forms of snooping programs such as spyware and adware are on a whopping 80% of systems. Even so, more than two-thirds of home users think they are safe from online threats.
The survey reveals a gap between users' perceptions and the prevalence of threats on the Internet. That gap causes many home computer users to forgo security precautions such as antivirus and firewall software, and could pose a threat to the integrity of sensitive personal and financial information, which survey respondents said they are increasingly using their computer to manage, according to a statement from AOL.
The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a nonprofit group that seeks to raise public awareness of cybersecurity issues, also helped with the survey. Technical experts examined 329 home computers connected to the Internet with either broadband or dial-up connections in September and October. Participants were interviewed about their awareness of online threats. Following their interview, AOL technicians examined the firewall and antivirus settings on participants' computers and looked for virus infections and for the presence of spyware and adware.
More than 70% of those who participated in the survey falsely believed they were safe from viruses and online threats, even though almost 20% of those were currently infected by a virus and 63% acknowledged being infected in the past, the survey found.
Spyware was an even more common and underacknowledged problem than viruses, the survey showed. Spyware or adware programs were found on 80% of the computers analyzed.
Spyware is a broad term that describes a category of programs, such as keylogging software, that illegally monitors a computer user's activity, often capturing and transmitting that information. Adware describes legally installed software, including Web page "cookies," that track user behavior such as Web surfing, often for the benefit of online advertisers.
About 90% of those whose computers were infected with spyware didn't know about the infections and didn't know what spyware programs are, the survey showed.
In addition to finding widespread ignorance about threats, AOL technicians uncovered lax security on many of the systems they inspected. While 85% of those surveyed installed antivirus software on their machine, 67% of those surveyed lacked up-to-date antivirus signatures that could stop the latest threats, AOL said.

A majority of users, 67%, also go without firewall software that can protect Internet-connected machines from attacks, AOL said.
Confusion about the purpose and necessity of