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Consumer Confidence Up On Security Software Protection
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-13
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The holiday season saw record sales for the online retail industry and one big reason appears to be consumer confidence in protective security like anti-virus and anti-spyware software. A new study published by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) lays out the numbers.
More than two out of three U.S. online adults (70 percent) reported that
Internet security concerns did not curtail them from making purchases online, and 38 percent of online holiday shoppers (1) said they spent more online than they did last year. One in three (30%) online adults, however, said security fears compelled them to shop less online or not at all this holiday season. One in five (20 percent) online adults said Internet security had them "very concerned" or "extremely concerned" this holiday season. Those concerns ran highest among those 55 and older (31% said they were "very" or "extremely" concerned).
Of those survey respondents who said they shopped online during the holiday season, many said they felt "very confident" or "extremely confident" of their protection from computer viruses (56 percent), credit card fraud (50 percent), identity theft (46 percent), and spyware (41 percent). They reported lower confidence in protection from having their personal information being sold to a third party (28% say they felt very or extremely confident) and from receiving unsolicited spam emails (24% say they felt very or extremely confident).
"The vast majority of shoppers refuse to let security fears stop them, and it appears that many are taking proactive steps to protect themselves and their computers. Yet, a substantial number of shoppers are still wary about e-commerce safety," said Diane Smiroldo, BSA's vice-president of public affairs.
"We don't doubt that the wide availability of effective security software products that detect and fight cyber security threats is helping to restore consumer confidence in the security of online transactions. Nevertheless, consumers must first recognize that their best defense against potential threats is having a working knowledge of the threats that exist, so that they can make informed decisions about the safety of particular e-commerce sites before they buy."
It is interesting to note the figures on this study. The future may hold a more difficult time in some ways, particularly as its revealed companies like Symantec are popping rootkits into one's computer. There's also the constant threat of viruses, worms, phishing scams and similar fare. This is good for ecommerce but the security software business needs to get more ethical about the methods they use to keep people safe.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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