Inforgraphic: In June this year Microsoft commissioned some research into which devices Australians see as being the most susceptible to data theft, and what precautions we are putting in place to stop the theft happening in the first place.
It turns out we have not a whole lot of knowledge on how our data can actually be accessed by others, which could be a reason why 18 per cent have had personal data comprised in some form.
46 per cent of those who had data stolen had their email account hacked and 40 per cent had their bank details compromised, 22 per cent had their social media account compromised and a further 22 per cent had personal data (photos, videos, messages, documents etc) stolen, Hello, identity theft.
We view software and online avenues as the most important to protect, with 81 per cent installing antivirus software or apps and 62 per cent using complex passwords measures (mixture of numbers, capital letters and special characters). But only 11 per cent of us are installing hardware encryption to protect ourselves.
Another interesting number is that only 23 per cent are using login measures that rely on personal attributes (fingerprint, facial scanner etc).
When asked what hardware device we think is most at risk, 60 per cent of us think our smartphones are most vulnerable, while only one per cent of respondents think that their wireless keyboard can be compromised. Microsoft says this misconception is “quite alarming” will be working to change it, presumably by promoting its own AES keyboards.
Wireless keyboards that don’t have AES (Advance Encryption Standards) are at risk of data theft as hackers and data thieves are increasingly finding news methods to steal valuable information. AES keyboards add an extra layer of protection and encrypt every keystroke before it reaches the PC.
What security measaures do you take? Let us know in the comments below!