54% of Social Networking Customers Encountered Phishing Attempts

A new study released by a web security company called Barracuda Networks revealed the experiences of users from 20 countries in relation to security aspects regarding social media. The report also outlines deficiencies that should be handled by providers to make their customers fell more secure.

The figures show that MySpace has lost a lot of ground in the recent period, currently being preferred by only close to 6% of the respondents, while Facebook is the favorite of 93%. Google+ attracts half of them, Twitter and LinkedIn being both appreciated by about 75%.

It is also revealed that while security and privacy are important, the same amount of value is placed on elements such as ease of use and popularity.

When it comes down to security, only 13% suffered from hijacked accounts, but at the other end of the poll, most people admit to have been served spam. Malware has been encountered by 23% and the accounts of almost 17% were found to send spam to others.

Because social networking has become part of the everyday workplace, in many occasions being utilized to conduct business, the survey placed LinkedIn to be the “most business friendly” of them all, followed by G+ and Twitter.

MySpace seems to have lost a lot of ground because most respondents feel highly unsafe while surfing its pages.

Regarding privacy, most employers believe that their staff shares way too much information in the virtual environment, half stating that not even the recent improvements have made Facebook a lot safer.

An interesting thing is that twice as many people fear identity theft than they fear physical harm, fact which comes to prove that the internet has gotten to the point where it rules our lives.

Finally, the numbers show that 1 out of 5 interviewed individuals were already negatively affected by information that got leaked by mistake on a social media website.