McAfee Says Only 42 Percent of Consumers Take Security Measures to Protect Their Gadgets
The No. 1 most hackable holiday gift category includes laptops and PCs, followed by smartphones and tablets, media players and streaming sticks, smart home automation and devices, and finally, drones, according to Intel.
Intel Security's second annual McAfee Most Hackable Holiday Gifts list, released today, identifies potential security risks associated with hot-ticket items this holiday season.
To accompany the list, Intel Security conducted a survey to identify the risky behaviors consumers are engaging in during the holiday season and educate them on how to protect themselves.
"Unsurprisingly, connected devices remain high on holiday wish lists this year. What is alarming is that consumers remain unaware of what behaviors pose a security risk when it comes to new devices," said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at Intel Security. "Consumers are often eager to use their new gadget as soon as they get it and forgo ensuring that their device is properly secured. Cybercriminals could use this lack of attention as an inroad to gather personal consumer data, exposing consumers to malware or identity theft or even use unsecured devices to launch DDoS attacks as in the recent Dyn attack."
According to the survey, while a majority of consumers are aware of the vulnerabilities in older connected devices like laptops (76 percent), mobile phones (70 percent) and tablets (69 percent), they lack awareness about the potential risks associated with emerging connected devices, such as drones (20 percent), children's toys (15 percent), virtual reality tech (15 percent) and pet gifts (11 percent). While 81 percent of consumers believe it?s very important to secure their online identities and connected devices, nearly half are uncertain if they are taking the proper security steps.
To stay protected for a safer holiday season, Intel Security suggest users to have security software installed in their devices, to only use secure Wi-Fi, keep their device's firmware up-to-date, use strong passwords or PINs and always be suspicious of links from people they do not know.
To accompany the list, Intel Security conducted a survey to identify the risky behaviors consumers are engaging in during the holiday season and educate them on how to protect themselves.
"Unsurprisingly, connected devices remain high on holiday wish lists this year. What is alarming is that consumers remain unaware of what behaviors pose a security risk when it comes to new devices," said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at Intel Security. "Consumers are often eager to use their new gadget as soon as they get it and forgo ensuring that their device is properly secured. Cybercriminals could use this lack of attention as an inroad to gather personal consumer data, exposing consumers to malware or identity theft or even use unsecured devices to launch DDoS attacks as in the recent Dyn attack."
According to the survey, while a majority of consumers are aware of the vulnerabilities in older connected devices like laptops (76 percent), mobile phones (70 percent) and tablets (69 percent), they lack awareness about the potential risks associated with emerging connected devices, such as drones (20 percent), children's toys (15 percent), virtual reality tech (15 percent) and pet gifts (11 percent). While 81 percent of consumers believe it?s very important to secure their online identities and connected devices, nearly half are uncertain if they are taking the proper security steps.
To stay protected for a safer holiday season, Intel Security suggest users to have security software installed in their devices, to only use secure Wi-Fi, keep their device's firmware up-to-date, use strong passwords or PINs and always be suspicious of links from people they do not know.
