Online behaviour of Indian users contended when it comes to cyber security

India findings from Norton Cyber Security Insights Report show that while consumers here love public WiFi, they don’t fully understand the accompanying risks.

Norton has surveyed over a 1,000 people from India and two key points emerged from this report. On the one hand, cybercriminals are honing their skills, on the other consumers continue to remain complacent about data security. Norton’s Survey shows that millennials, nearly 34%, are particularly slack when it comes to online security and are happy to share passwords that compromise their online safety. Furthermore, there is also an attitude of ‘who will want my data?’ and many people think they are not important enough or not interesting enough for cyber criminals to attack their personal data.

Still, according to the report, nearly one in three (33%) Indians have either experienced ransomware themselves or know someone who has. Worryingly, 27% of these victims actually paid ransom to gain access to their files.

The other area where Indians end up compromising their cyber security is in their love for public WiFi. The survey showed that while people who experienced cyber-crime in 2015 were more likely to be concerned about the security of their home WiFi network (79 % vs 70 % non-victims). Yet this same group of victims was less likely to password protect their home WiFi network than non-victims (28 % vs 10 % of non-victims have unprotected networks).

The survey also showed that only 56 % of users knew how to determine whether the WiFi network they are using is secure. When it comes to public WiFi, one in four (27 %) regularly uses public connections, like at airports and coffee shops.

People in India admit they send emails, documents, social media on public WiFi, and are unaware of the risks. While 45 % using VPN regularly on public WiFi, the rest does not, leaving them vulnerable to hackers.

Therefore, Indian consumers need to change their online habits in order to escape cybercrime. Safe practices include strong unique passwords, not clicking on unsolicited messages or attachments, especially from strangers, backing up important data and files and keeping them encrypted to make them inaccessible to hackers. Norton also suggests using VPN when on public WiFi networks.