A recent global survey, conducted by McAfee, provides some insight into online behaviour and attitudes, which could be consistent with Caribbean Internet users.

 

Without a doubt, the Internet has become integral to our daily lives. Not only are we spending more time online, increasingly, we are also sharing more of ourselves, whether consciously or unconsciously, through browsing, social media and shopping online, to name a few. If you are like me, the continual reports of cybercrime, online threats and network breaches, have been disconcerting, but it also underpins a real fear with respect to the amount of personal data we tend to have online.

Source: McAfee

McAfee survey findings

In a survey of 6,400 people worldwide conducted by global network security firm, McAfee, of consumers’ habits and attitudes around the digital landscape, the key findings, which we released earlier this month, highlighted the following:

Survey respondents were concerned about the prospect of data breaches and feel that they do not have enough control over their data, but less than 40% were proactive in trying to better protect themselves, through digital solutions, such as ID theft protection software.

Parent respondents were concerned about child safety online, but around one-third of them did not monitor their child’s usage of connected device, and around 40% of parent respondents discovered that their children had accessed websites that they do not approve of.

With regard to the connected home, over half of the respondents were either unsure or had no idea how to check to see if their connected devices and apps were secured, and just under 20% responded that they have never considered the implications of their home network being hacked.

Caribbean online attitude and behaviour

Last week Sunday, 28 January, was commemorated as Data Privacy Day, with the intention of raising awareness and promoting data privacy and protection best practices worldwide. Although it was not revealed to what degree the Caribbean was represented in the McAfee survey, it is likely that the findings reported would, at best, be consistent with survey results for a Caribbean cohort.

Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly evident that although we all continue to charge forward into the digital age, relatively few of us are knowledgeable, or equipped, enough to be more vigilant online. Further, it could also be argued that many of us are just not prepared – or are unwilling – to do the work to keep our data, and ourselves, safe online.

With regard to the latter group of people, who are not prepared to do the work, there is not much anyone can do – unless they are open or willing to make the effort. For those who are might not be knowledgeable enough, there are numerous resources, including ICT Pulse, that provide a broad range of insights and tools that can be used to address their current deficiencies.

 

Image credit:   geralt (Pixabay)

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