How much do you know about cyber security? If you’re like most Americans, then not much. But in this world of constant hacking and espionage, that needs to change. Americans and cyber security: We must do better.
So the Pew Research Center came up with a quiz. This quiz tested what Americans know about online security. Apparently, it’s not much. There were ten questions. ?Consequently, of those who took the tests, 58% got more than half the test wrong. Another 15% got just half the quiz right. So that’s nearly 3/4 of Americans who got 50 or below. Only 1% got all 10 right, and 3% got 9 of 10 right.
The quiz covered numerous issues: password security, phishing, encryption, Wi-fi safety, and ransomware. As we can expect, those between ages 18-29 did the best. But those over 65 did the worst. However, the education gap really shows. Those who have a college degree did better than those without a high school diploma or GED. But there is some good that came out of the results. The majority of them picked the strongest password as the best password. Thankfully, very few picked 12345 as the best password. But of the ones most got wrong, they deal with VPN’s (virtual private networks and identity authenticity. These are critical to Americans and cyber security.
Yes, we are making progress. I say that because years back, many would choose a password like abc or 12345. But we in computer repair need to do better teaching our customers about cyber security. There’s a reason they don’t know. It’s because we don’t tell them. At our?Boston computer service shop, we’re discussing running courses about Americans and cyber security, just to keep the public informed. ?I guess what I’m trying to say is, knowledge is power. And we in the tech industry need to better educate ourselves. Then, we need to pass that knowledge on and educate our people. The cyber crooks are getting smarter every day. When it comes to Americans and cyber security, shouldn’t we?