Cyber security: The UK is the most safety conscious nation
Research suggests that people in the UK search for alternative methods for their online passwords more than any other country.
According to a 2016 cybercrime report, cyber security will cost the global economy an estimated $10.5 trillion on an annual basis by 2025.
Last year was the biggest year for data breaches so far, with some of the world’s largest platforms being impacted. LinkedIn’s data breach saw 93% of its members’ data put for sale online. Facebook, meanwhile, had 533 million accounts and personal information of users from across 106 different countries leaked.
People leave themselves vulnerable to such attacks by recycling passwords and using simple combinations, such as “123456”. So, to see which country is most safety conscious when it comes to their online information, VBQ Speakers has looked at how many people search on Google for a ‘password generator’ – a tool that creates unique, strong passwords to protect accounts and data – in the past 12 months.
They analysed global search data in 138 countries around the world (with populations over 1 million), and the results suggest that people in the United Kingdom were the most security conscious when it came to protecting their online information, with ‘password generator’ terms being searched an average of over 157,000 times each month (2.326 per 1,000 of the population).
This was followed by Singapore (2.190) and the Netherlands (2.123). At the bottom of the top 10 was New Zealand (1.491).
Despite 72% of people admitting recycling passwords for several of their accounts, specific terms that appeared most commonly within the research were ‘strong password generator’, ‘random password generator’, ‘online password generator’ and ‘google password generator’.
The top 10 most security conscious nations suggested by the research (based on search volume per 1,000 of the population) are as follows:
1. UK (2.326)
2. Singapore (2.190)
3. Netherlands (2.123)
4. Australia (2.075)
5. Ireland (1.845)
6. Canada (1.771)
7. Germany (1.705)
8. Denmark (1.635)
9. US (1.515)
10. New Zealand (1.491)
VBQ Speakers Founder & Director, Leo von Bülow-Quirk said: “A very large proportion of our work and personal lives are conducted online, but many – if not most – of us aren’t fully aware of the associated risks. It is therefore critical for us to take cyber security seriously and protect ourselves both as individuals and businesses.”
“Using a password generator is a great first step for someone to take in protecting themselves online, and it’s interesting to see from our research that the UK has searched for them most regularly over the past 12 months.”
