50 percent mobile phone users in India don’t have security solutions: Report
Smartphone users in India need to be made aware about the importance of having mobile security solutions on their devices, says Symantec.
A new Symantec report raises concern over the lack of awareness about mobile security solutions among mobile phone users in India. The report reveals about 50 percent of mobile phone users in the country do not have such security solutions, making their devices vulnerable to cybercrimes.
As per findings of the Symantec report, about 70 percent of adult mobile users in India access to the Internet. About 44 percent of mobile users get text message from an unknown sender requesting to click on an embedded link or dial an unknown number to get a voicemeil.
“Today all these malwares, spywares and trojans are hitting each one of us with the perspective of getting monetary benefit,” Ritesh Chopra, country sales manager (India and SAARC) of Symantec Software Solutions, is quoted as saying.
Chopra, quoting a Norton cybercrime report, says 1,15,068 users are victims of cybercrime every day and 80 per minute in India last year. He also pointed out that criminals are now missing mobile phones lost by individuals. As per an estimate, about “53 per cent of adult population had lost their mobile sets or had it stolen in India last year.”
The Symantec official also pointed out cyberbullying has emerged as one of the serious threats to children using the Internet. About 32 percent of parents confirmed their kids had experienced harassment, intentional exclusion, outing secrets, denigration on the Internet as well as social networking sites.
Chopra added Norton would like to reach out to schools from the coming academic session to increase awareness among the students in metro cities about cyber rules and regulations.
Last month a similar McAfee report revealed about 36 percent of smartphone users don’t use password protection. The report, citing its recent global survey, notes users are “largely unconcerned” about keeping their information safe on their mobile devices.
McAfee points out that having a password or PIN does not guarantee data is safe, and more than half of survey respondents (55 percent) admitted they had shared these details with others, including their children. Read our coverage on the McAfee report here.
Source: Times of India, The Hindu