世論 What Japan Thinks

A recently-reported, but not recently-conducted survey conducted by DIMSDRIVE Research looked at computer security.

Demographics

Between the 16th of September and the 7th of November 2010 7,937 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group with a home computer completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.1% of the sample were male, 0.7% in their teens, 11.2% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, 33.1% in their forties, 15.4% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older.

My main security software is Microsoft Security Essentials, which does the business. On my desktop PC running Vista, the daily updates then scans really bog the machine down for 30 minutes, despite setting it to only use 30% or less of the system resources. I used to run Avast!, again free, but it prompts once a year for a free license update, but last year I just couldn’t get the message to go away. It’s quite sad that most people get stuck with commercial packages that they don’t really rate very highly just because it comes bundled on the computer.

Research results

Q1: How many computers do you have at home? (Sample size=7,937)

One	48.3%
Two	30.0%
Three	21.7%

Q2: Are security measures taken on your main home computer? (Sample size=7,937)

	All	Male N=4,058	Female N=3,879
Yes, myself	69.1%	84.1%	53.5%
Yes, someone else	17.0%	5.2%	29.3%
No	10.0%	9.1%	10.9%
Don’t know	3.9%	1.6%	6.3%

Q3: Do you think these security measures are bulletproof? (Sample size=7,937)

Yes	8.6%
To some extent	55.2%
Can’t say	23.9%
Not really	8.2%
Not at all	4.1%

Q4: What concrete security measures do you carry out or take care about? (Sample size=6,836, those taking security measures from Q2, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=3,624	Female N=3,212
Use security software (to SQ1 and SQ2)	88.4%	92.4%	84.0%
Don’t visit dodgy sites	45.5%	40.2%	51.5%
Keep OS up to date	42.8%	53.6%	30.6%
Don’t use file-sharing software	40.3%	45.4%	34.4%
Don’t open spam email	37.0%	35.4%	38.8%
Don’t open email attachments	20.4%	22.5%	18.1%
Careful with how I use personal information	20.4%	22.5%	18.1%
Use password on computer itself	17.0%	19.4%	14.2%
Avoid giving credit card information	16.5%	18.4%	14.4%
Don’t use the same password on each web site	11.8%	12.5%	11.1%
Password-protect important data	11.6%	12.9%	10.2%
Avoid saving cookies	8.4%	9.4%	7.3%
Don’t save username, password (to paper, disk, etc)	8.3%	8.2%	8.4%
Other	0.8%	1.1%	0.4%
Don’t really know	3.2%	1.2%	5.4%

Q4SQ1: What is the main security software package that you use? (Sample size=6,046)

VirusBuster (Trend Micro)	26.6%
Norton (Symantec)	19.5%
Virus Security Zero (Source Next)	12.8%
McAfee (McAfee)	10.0%
Kingsoft Internet Security (Kingsoft)	4.8%
ESET Security Software (Canon System Solutions)	2.6%
Security Essentials (Microsoft)	2.4%
Kaspersky Internet Security (Just Systems)	1.5%
Virus Killer (eFrontier)	0.3%
Virus Barrier (Act 2)	0.3%
G-Data (Jungle)	0.1%
i-Filter (Digital Arts)	0.1%
Other	12.3%
Don’t really know	6.7%

Cross-referencing virus software versus bulletproofness from Q3, Virus Buster users had the highest degree of bias towards high ratings of bulletproofness. On the other hand, McAfee was not looked on too well, and Kingsoft Internet Security seems to be very poorly rated.

Q4SQ2: Why did you choose that security software package? (Sample size=6,046, multiple answer)

Well-known software	18.3%
Free	17.2%
Family, friends recommended it	17.1%
Came pre-installed on computer	16.2%
Well-rated on the grapevine	11.2%
Seemed to be the best available	11.2%
Has free updates	10.3%
Cheap	10.1%
Shop recommended it when I bought computer	7.3%
Easy to update	7.3%
Came as a multi-license pack	6.5%
Had a free trial period	5.3%
Seemed easy to understand	4.5%
Same software as used at work, school	3.7%
Other	5.0%
Nothing in particular	5.3%

The most popular reasons for choosing each of the top five packages were as follows. 29.0% chose VirusBuster for it being a well-known name, as did 27.8% of the Norton users. 46.1% went for Virus Security Zero because updates were free, 40.2% had McAfee because it came preinstalled on their computer, and 75.7% went for Knigsoft Internet Security because it was free.

The next question were for those from Q4 who did not use a security software package.

Q4SQ3: Why do you not use a security software package? (Sample size=790, multiple answer)

Makes the computer sluggish	25.3%
Don’t really know how to use them	19.6%
Subscription ran out and just using an out of date version	16.2%
Not had a problem yet	15.9%
Just don’t know about security software	9.7%
Don’t know how to update it	9.5%
Security software is not to be relied on	9.5%
Don’t really understand the purpose of it	8.6%
Don’t know the best place to obtain it	6.1%
Don’t worry about being exposed to danger	2.7%
Other	12.5%

Q5: Which of the following do you usually do on the internet? (Sample size=7,937, multiple answer)

Email	94.7%
Shopping	87.6%
View movies	76.6%
Auction	47.3%
Music download	30.6%
Blog	30.3%
mixi	29.8%
Online game	24.0%
Twitter	19.6%
Web site management	11.6%

Q6: Which of the following have you been harmed by? (Sample size=7,937, multiple answer)

Unsolicited email	72.6%
Fake invoice email	24.5%
Forced to connect to an adult site	10.3%
System got unstable due to virus infection	10.3%
System destroyed due to virus infection	3.8%
One-click fraud	3.8%
Personal information leaked	3.4%
Data got destroyed due to virus infection	3.0%
Auction fraud	2.5%
Computer lost power due to virus infection	2.4%
Phishing fraud	0.8%
Data leaked onto internet due to file-sharing software virus infection	0.7%
Other	0.5%
None of the above	21.2%