F-Secure survey shows continued lack of security awareness from HK mobile phone users

Tags: F-Secure Hong Kong malware mobile phone security threat

By SearchSecurityAsia editors | Mar 17, 2009

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F-Secure, a company providing security as a service through Internet Service Providers and mobile operators, announced mobile security results from its annual Online Wellbeing survey conducted in December 2008 in Hong Kong.

The survey showed that HK people were more inclined to trust their mobile security to the carrier, 26% of respondents felt the individual user is responsible for the security on their mobile phones; 48% thought the carrier was responsible and 25% felt that the mobile phone manufacturers should be held responsible. Overall, the study showed that mobile phone users still do not take high enough precautions themselves, but rely on a third party.

While mobile phones are becoming more and more sophisticated, allowing Internet surfing, file and picture transferring, alongside many other day-to-day applications, 70% of the respondents have access to the Internet from their mobile phones. However 66% of those surveyed said they did not have security software installed on their mobile phones, and 17% did not express any opinion when asked if their mobile phones were secure.

Malware awareness
The research found that while 86% of the respondents think their mobile phones are at risk from malware infection through Bluetooth, people are not taking action to protect themselves from the mobile security threats. Morever 90% of the repsondents think that if their mobile device is infected with malware, it can secretly send text messages to all contacts and generate extra costs to your bill.

See Lee, regional director of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau says: "The 2008 survey reveals that public awareness of mobile security threats is high in Hong Kong. However, the low amount of security software installed on mobile phones coupled with the rapidly increasing volume of these devices make them a very vulnerable target for hackers. Mobile phone users need to become more cautious of the phenomenon and take action."

The third-party survey of 200 Internet users aged 20-40 in Hong Kong, tested the respondents’ knowledge of mobile security issues and and gauged their confidence in the safety of basic online activities.

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F-Secure survey shows continued lack of security awareness from HK mobile phone users