世論 What Japan Thinks

This recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com into Windows security – “an oxymoron!” I hear you all yell – showed that the Japanese too are well aware of Microsoft’s reputation in this regard.

Demographics

Over the 11th and 12th of September 2008 300 home computer-using members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private online questionnaire. The sample was split 50:50 male and female and 20:20:20:20:20 between people in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and sixty and overs.

In Q1 the survey is referring to Internet Explorer security settings – the Settings dialog from Explorer, then the Security tab, and then the slider at the bottom for the strength of the security checks. However, Q1SQ then talks about firewalls, which is not part of the security settings! I also find 65.9% of people using a pop-up blocker hard to believe, unless the figure was obtained primarily from people reading the settings straight out of the said security dialog box.

Adding up Q2 and Q2SQ results, just about one in four of all Windows users are actively checking for security holes at least once a week!

Research results

From the sample, 286 people, or 95.2%, were Windows users. The following questions were directed at them.

Q1: Do you know that you can set the security level in Windows? (Sample size=286)

Yes (to SQ)	64.7%
No	35.3%

Q1SQ: Which of the following security features have you enabled? (Sample size=185, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Firewall	134	72.4%
Pop-up blocking	122	65.9%
Per-site permission checking	63	34.1%
Site access blocking	53	28.6%
Per-site permission blocking	38	20.5%
Other	4	2.2%

Q2: Do you regularly check for Windows vulnerabilities? (Sample size=286)

Yes (to SQ)	40.2%
No	59.8%

Q2SQ: How often do you check for vulnerabilities? (Sample size=115)

Daily	16.5%
Once every three days	7.0%
Once a week	38.3%
Once every two weeks	13.0%
Once every three weeks	0.0%
Once a month	18.3%
Once every three months	2.6%
Once every six months	2.6%
Once a year	0.9%
Other	0.9%