New Consumer Survey of 1,000 Respondents Reveals that Consumers Put Responsibility on Web Site Owners to Prevent Malware Infections
Survey Also Underscores Importance of Government Intervention to Fight Cybercrime and Devise Regulations on ISPs and Online Providers
London - April 27th, 2010 - An independent survey amongst 1,000 UK consumers commissioned by Qualys®, Inc the leading provider of on demand IT security risk and compliance management solutions, revealed the need for multiple groups to take proactive measures to keep web sites safe from malware and to protect sensitive customer information. Key findings of this survey include:
- Responsibility. Fifty-four percent of respondents said that web site owner should ensure that their web site does not infect the computers of visitors to the site with malware that could lead to any data breaches. .
- Reaction to Being Infected. Seventy-one percent of consumers said that they will not revisit a website that has infected them with malware at one point of time, while only seven percent said they would notify the web site owners of the problem.
- Looking for Safe Sites. Fifty-four percent of consumers stated they would be more likely to visit a web site that provides an independently endorsed test that their web site is malware free.
- Government Action. When asked what actions the government should take to make the Internet more secure, thirty-seven percent of respondents asked for enforcement of stronger penalties against cyber criminals, twenty-six percent asked for more onus on the ISP and online providers to block malware.
“The huge amounts of personal and financial data flowing through Internet web sites make them attractive targets for criminals,” said David Lacey, a well known innovator in information security management, and a member of the Infosecurity Europe International Hall of Fame. “This survey shows that consumers are getting streetwise and more conscious of the need to avoid risks to their personal and financial information. Web sites clearly need to demonstrate that they’ve taking action to protect their visitors from malware attacks in order to avoid lost sales and safeguard their brand reputation.”
According to recent research from Forrester, “trusted sites can’t be trusted anymore and a troubling trend is that Web users are now increasingly more likely to encounter malware at legitimate Web sites. This is a new phenomenon; malware was found previously only on questionable sites (e.g., adult or gambling sites).”
About Qualys
Qualys, Inc. is the leading provider of on demand IT security risk andcompliance management solutions – delivered as a service. Qualys’Software-as-a-Service solutions are deployed in a matter of hours anywhere inthe world, providing customers an immediate and continuous view of theirsecurity and compliance postures.
The QualysGuard® service is used today by more than 4,000 organizations in 85countries, including 42 of the Fortune Global 100 and performs more than 250million IP audits per year. Qualys has the largest vulnerability managementdeployment in the world at a Fortune Global 50 company.
Qualys has established strategic agreements with leading managed serviceproviders and consulting organizations including BT, Etisalat, Fujitsu, IBM,I(TS)2, LAC, NTT, SecureWorks, Symantec, Tata Communications and TELUS.
For more information, please visit www.qualys.com.
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Qualys, the Qualys logo and QualysGuard are proprietary trademarks of Qualys, Inc. All other products or names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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