Report: Tech misconceptions plague the IT world

New research shows that while many Brits will snap shut a laptop camera in the name of privacy, a worrying amount will just as happily shovel all manner of personal information into an online game in order to get a result they can share with their friends.

The survey of 10,000 consumers worldwide, including 1,000 in the UK, was conducted by Arlington Research and commissioned by Kaspersky, the controversial anti-malware outfit recently dubbed a security risk by US authorities.

The survey participants were aged between 18 and 40, and had declared themselves interested in new technology.

The results demonstrate that the infosec community still needs to do more to educate users on staying safe online.

While nearly half (49 percent) of respondents had taken the sensible step of covering their webcam when not in use, a similar amount (44 percent) admitted to "Taking funny tests or playing mini-games on social media and posting the results." Thirty-five percent were a bit superstitious about digitally forwarded messages and would send them to friends and family to avoid breaking a chain. Twenty-five percent stuck their smartphone in a special cover so hackers couldn't steal their data.

According to Kaspersky, 21 percent of Brits believe a magnet can erase a smartphone. (This might be true if you used that magnet to smash the device into millions of tiny pieces.) That sound you can hear is a thousand IT professionals slapping their faces with the palms of their hands.

It gets worse. Almost half (40 percent) of users believe that browsers' "incognito mode" makes their activity invisible to everyone, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) assume an encrypted messaging service such as WhatsApp will make live links safe to use. Twenty-two percent believe iOS-based products are immune to all attempts to hack them.

That said, some worries are grounded in reality. Forty-one percent of respondents expressed suspicion regarding the amount of data collected by modern cars. It's a reasonable question, particularly after Mozilla's 2023 excoriating report into the information collection habits of certain car makers.

Compounding the problem is the age range of the users surveyed – you'd expect this cohort would be more tech-savvy but they nonetheless still appear subject to the same myths and misinformation that pervades the average friends and family WhatsApp group.

David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team, said: "Our research underscores the significance of a well-informed approach to cybersecurity and digital privacy.

"Ensuring safety and protection requires maintaining a critical mindset, relying solely on verified sources and facts. This means disregarding unproven techniques and myths, while being aware of the digital discrepancies that permeate our online lives." ®