Consumers More Concerned About Unwanted Marketing Than Malicious Activities/Software on Their Smartphones
Mobile-device users are more concerned about unwanted marketing on their smartphones than they are about malware and spyware, according to a survey from AVG Technolgoies and Ponemon Institute.
“Smartphone Security Survey: A Study of U.S. Consumers” surveyed 734 smartphone owners who are 18 years old and older.
According to the study, 68 percent of respondents said they are concerned about dialerware when it comes to smartphone security risks. Meanwhile, 67 percent said they are concerned about unwanted marketing, 66 percent said they are concerned about auto transmission, 65 percent said they are concerned about jailbreaking, 65 percent said they are concerned about spyware and 65 percent said they are concerned about location tracking.
Sixty percent said they’re concerned about specialized malware, 51 percent are concerned about improper disposal, 50 percent are concerned about a social networking snafu, 42 percent are concerned about insecure Wi-Fi and 40 percent are concerned about cross-over (when business information is jeopardized because of personal use of a smartphone).
Part of the reason why marketing abuse ranks so highly may be because 58 percent of respondents said they’ve experienced it. Meanwhile, 52 percent said they’ve experienced cross-over issues, while 23 percent said they’ve experienced insecure Wi-Fi.
The study also found that 40 percent of consumers use their smartphones for both business and personal use equally, while 25 percent use them mostly for personal use but for some business use as well. Sixteen percent use smartphones for personal use only, 13 percent use them for mostly business but for some personal use, and 6 percent use them for business use only. Cross-over concerns should clearly be a concern for many consumers.
While all respondents said they use their smartphones for phone activities, 89 percent said they use them for personal email and 82 percent said they use them for business email. Meanwhile, 57 percent said they utilize address books on their smartphones, 54 percent text message and 53 percent store or move data.
The study revealed that 66 percent of respondents have paid for an item via their mobile phones, while 51 percent signed up for a service or product via their mobile phones without realizing there would be a cost.
Forty-six percent of respondents said they signed up for services or products on their smartphones via email, while 34 percent did so via text message and 31 percent did so via a website.
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