Defending The Kingdom

Every so often, it helps to remind ourselves why security and privacy are important. In late 2006, Consumer Reports published its third annual State of the Net, which I think is an excellent summary and forceful reminder of why, exactly, security and privacy should be high priorities for everyone.

The report is based on a national survey (of America, I believe), and lists the 4 biggest threats on the internet along with their rates of incidence. If you want to know just how likely you are to suffer monetary damages from internet threats, this is a great resource. Here are the findings from survey respondents:

Viruses

1 in 4 had a major, often costly problem. The cost per incident was $109

Spyware

1 in 8 had a major, often costly problem. The cost per incident was $100

Phishing

1 in 115 had a major, often costly problem. The cost per incident was $850

Spam

1 in 2 experienced high levels of spam. Consumer Reports doesn’t mention the costliness of spam, probably because it’s too hard to measure. But it’s still a major nuisance that soaks up valuable time and computer resources for almost everyone who uses the internet.

I hope the readers of this blog are slightly less prone to suffer damages as a result of the advice I give. Best of luck to all of you!