SINGAPORE, 10 May 2019 – ESET, developer of award-winning cybersecurity software, today released the results from its ESET 2018 APAC Consumer Behaviour Survey results. The results revealed that 58% of APAC respondents had experienced a data breach in the past 12 months. The top response for the type of breach that respondents suffered from the most was virus attacks (25%).
Of the seven countries that were part of the ESET APAC Consumer Behaviour Survey, Thailand had the highest occurrence of data breaches, with 44% of respondents attributing this to virus attacks. In addition, Thai nationals topped the charts when it came to spending time online, with 32% of respondents spending more than ten hours a day on the internet. In comparison with the rest of the countries, only 13% of respondents spend more than ten hours a day on the internet.
“Like a double-edged sword, the evolutionary use of data comes hand-in-hand with cyberthreats, which are increasingly getting sophisticated. Our survey finding suggests that consumers have a superficial understanding of cyberthreats. It is therefore imperative that consumers are educated about the growing threats, and the steps they can take to protect themselves online as well as offline,” said Lukas Raska, Chief Operating Officer for ESET Asia Pacific.
“It is reassuring that 78% of APAC respondents have indicated that they would be open to receiving more information about cybersecurity. There are various aspects of cybersecurity for everyone to learn from, whether you are a parent, online shopper, social media user, or a gamer. At the end of the day, by being more informed, consumers are better prepared to deal with the cyberthreats that they face in their daily lives,” added Lukas.
The survey was conducted to understand consumer’s behaviour online, and their attitudes towards cybersecurity in light of the recent cases of data compromises. Several countries participated in the survey – Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Each country consisted of 2,000 respondents. Overall, respondents were 52% male and 48% female, with a majority aged between 18-24 years old, followed by the range of 25-34 years.
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