90% of PC Users Ignore Important Security Warnings

It seems that 9 out of 10 PC users fail to heed important security warnings, opting instead to ignore needed updates and put their PCs at potential risk of some type of cyber threat, according to a recent study. Some have good excuses for doing so, like being busy at work, but that is precisely why you need to stop what you’re doing for one minute and perform the needed security upgrades: Cyber breaches in the workplace can mean countless dollars in data loss, and potentially millions of dollars in fines for HIPAA compliance violations. Luckily, those offices that have IT specialists on the job can force needed updates overnight, so you as an executive or employee don’t have to worry about it.

The three main reasons given for not performing the security updates rank as follows:

• 74% of respondents said they ignored security messages when they were about to close their web browser.
• 79% said they ignored a message if it popped up while they were watching a video.
• 87% skipped the message while uploading files.

One of the big problems with ignoring important security updates is that once pop-up windows are closed out, it may be weeks before you see a follow-up security message, leaving your PC vulnerable to cyberattack in the meantime. Recent Google studies on the flaws found in antivirus tools such as those proffered by Symantec, Trend Micro, and Comodo, those programs, found that if they aren’t patched or updated, your PC remains wide open to cyber threat in the interim.

Google has actually looked into the problem of security update pop-ups being ignored, seeking to determine when the best time to display the pop-ups might be, such as evening hours as opposed to work hours. They are also looking at waiting to display them until after videos finish playing and other ways of getting messages to users. Another reason for ignoring pop-ups could also be the prevalence of scareware, which poses as a fake alert in order to get you to click on it, and then unwittingly become the victim of a malware attack.

Don’t Become a Victim of Cybercrime

As mentioned above, having an IT support team on the job of computer security will help you immensely in the fight against both hackers and employee failure to update security on their PCs. Fuelled Networks is the leader in providing cybersecurity and IT consulting in Ottawa, so contact one of our expert IT staff at (613) 828-1384 or send us an email at {email, and we can get you the security updates your IT network needs.