90 Percent of American Adults Concerned about the Safety of Personal Information Online

As part of its "Keep America Safe Online” campaign with television crime fighter and victim advocate John Walsh, CA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CA) today announced a survey finding a gap between online security awareness and safety precautions by teens, adults and seniors, with varying behaviors across regions. Survey results showed that 57 percent of American adults fear their identity might be stolen online within the next two years, and 90 percent worry about the security of their personal information. In addition, 35 percent of teens leave their social networking profiles open to viewing by complete strangers.

Adult age was a major factor in terms of assessing the cybersecurity risk of online behavior. While the study found that older adults were the most concerned about the security of personal information while surfing the Internet in general, younger adults were more likely to worry about security while performing specific higher-risk activities. For example:

• Adults ages 30 to 39 were twice as likely to worry about surfing the Web in a public place than their counterparts in the 60-plus age category.
• Nearly half of respondents ages 18 to 29 were concerned about security while downloading software, as compared with just a third of adults ages 50-59.

Additionally, adults in the Pacific region proved to be the most afraid of having their identity stolen, compared with adults in the Midwest and West.

CA survey statistics also revealed gender to be a significant determinant in the security fear factor:

• 42 percent of teenage boys claimed they do not set up privacy controls on their networking profiles, leaving them open to the prying eyes of strangers.
• Nearly three quarters of teenage girls said they post personal pictures online.
• Boys were also 13 percent less likely to verify the identity of an online contact than girls.
• In the adult category, 64 percent of women said they were concerned about security while shopping online as opposed to only 55 percent of men.

From a regional perspective, the Northeastern part of the country showed twice as many teens active on social networking sites than in the Midwest and Western regions. As such sites become more popular nationwide, the data suggests that parents in the Midwest and West may need to become more active in their children’s online behaviors.

With 87 percent of teens on social networking sites, their social networking behaviors proved to be a huge vulnerability point as:

• 38 percent of teens post their education information.
• 32 percent disclose their email address.
• 28 percent reveal their birth date.
• 19 percent display their full name.

"For 20 years I’ve fought against creeps that prey on the vulnerable and particularly those that prey on children,” said John Walsh. "It is imperative that we all take measures to protect ourselves and our families from becoming victims. With our kids, in particular, when they post personal information online, predators have everything they need to contact teens or steal their identities. In fact, nearly 50 percent of teens have been contacted by someone they didn’t know on the Internet.”

To help regulate these dangers, parents have taken the following precautionary measures:

• 91 percent of parents have spoken with their children about talking to strangers online.
• 88 percent have discussed the risks of visiting inappropriate sites.
• 85 percent of parents have reiterated the need to protect personal information on social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.

"What is surprising about these survey results is that despite parents’ awareness of the online dangers of social networking sites, only 40 percent of them are monitoring how much time their child spends online,” said George Kafkarkou, senior vice president and general manager for CA’s Internet Security Business Unit. "Parents are not taking a proactive role in Internet oversight beyond a verbal warning. We’ve also noticed that as more seniors get online, they profess a general concern for Web safety but a lack of awareness about specific online risks.”

More than one third of parents are taking a backseat to their child’s online activities, and twice as many parents have communication software, such as instant messaging, installed on home computers as opposed to parental control software. Though many parents behave lackadaisically when it comes to monitoring their child’s online safety, they have great concern for their own. Adults have taken steps to safeguard their computers and personal information including:

• The installation of anti-virus software (86 percent).
• Pop-up blocking software (81 percent).
• Anti-spyware programs (77 percent).

In terms of software to protect their own children, only 30 percent of parents have parental control software installed on home computers. Even worse, less than one third restrict access to their child’s profile by controlling security features.

The complete survey results are posted online at http://security.com/KeepAmericaSafe, a resource for cybersecurity in the age of social networking, organized cybercrime and an increasingly diverse Web user population.

About CA Internet Security Business Unit

CA Internet Security Business Unit (ISBU) is a unit of CA, Inc dedicated to the development, marketing and support for CA anti-malware products. The products include a full-range of enterprise, SMB and home/home office Internet security software. The products are backed by CA’s Security Advisor research team and have received major industry certifications. CA ISBU products are also offered by more than 10,000 resellers and OEM partners including leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). The products are currently protecting more than 70 million PCs worldwide. For more information, please visit http://security.com/partners.

About CA

CA (NASDAQ: CA) is the world’s leading independent IT management software company. With CA’s Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.ca.com.

Subscribe to CA

• CA Global Security Advisor
• CA Newsletters
• CA Press Releases
• CA YouTube Channel
• CA Podcasts
• CA Blogs

Trademarks

Copyright © 2008 CA. All Rights Reserved. One CA Plaza, Islandia, N.Y. 11749. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.