1 in 3 people don’t practise proper cybersecurity: Survey

SINGAPORE — Most people agree that everyone has a role to play in cybersecurity. Yet, many still admitted to poor cybersecurity practises such as sharing passwords with others, among other bad habits.

These were some of the findings of an online survey by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) which was released on Wednesday (Feb 15). A total of 2,000 respondents aged 15 years and above were surveyed between July 2016 and August 2016.

About 73 per cent of respondents agreed that every individual has a role to play in cybersecurity. Most were aware of the need for strong passwords — 86 per cent said they used a combination of letters, numbers and symbols in their passwords — but about one-third of them did not manage their passwords securely.

Around 33 per cent of this group said they wrote their passwords down or stored it in their computer, while 31 per cent said they used the same passwords for work and personal accounts, and 26 per cent saying they shared their passwords with someone else in the case of an emergency situations.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of the respondents did not enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) when the option was available. A common excuse cited by about 40 per cent of this group was that it was too time-consuming to have it enabled.

About one in 10 respondents were unsure about using 2FA; while 32 per cent said they do not have security applications installed on their mobile phones, with reasons ranging from “taking up too much storage space” to “not necessary”.

More than two-thirds (about 67 per cent) felt there is not enough information about cybersecurity for the general public; however, they expressed interest in learning more about cybersecurity, including ways to protect and prevent data from unauthorised access and/or threats, as well as cybersecurity education for the youth and elderly.

Mr David Koh, Chief Executive of CSA, felt the survey findings were encouraging.

“I am encouraged that a majority of the respondents recognise that everyone has a role to play in cybersecurity and many expressed an interest to learn more about it,” he said.

The results of the survey follow CSA’s first “Live Savvy with Cybersecurity” roadshow held on Feb 11 and 12 at Toa Payoh HDB Hub.

Said Mr Koh: “We will continue to explore ways to reach out to people with the necessary cybersecurity resources and information, so that they can take ownership of their cyber hygiene and support Singapore’s journey to become a Smart Nation.”