Indians may be worried about hacking, cyber bullying and online stealing of information, but it seems we are not doing anything much about it. As much as 57 per cent Indians are negligent about their safety, both online and offline. Also worrisome is that, 60 per cent admit they do not monitor the content their kids view online.
These are the disturbing trends to emerge out of India’s biggest internet behaviour survey, unveiled on Monday on the occasion of Safer Internet Day. The survey done by classifieds portal, Olx India, with more than 26,000 participants, revealed the attitude and behaviour of Indians to cyber security and safe internet practices.
About 67 per cent said they skipped the terms & conditions or any other safety/legal guidelines while signing up to a website or using a product. Nearly 54 per cent said they had not changed the password of their social media accounts in the last 6 months, while 31 per cent said they cannot even recall how long it had been since they had last changed their password. 56 per cent have also freely shared their mobile number on their professional or social media profiles.
We tend to be lackadaisical offline, too, it seems. A total of 75 per cent of those surveyed said they had not conducted a police verification of their household staff, or did not know if one had been done. Respondents from Delhi came up highest among those who said they observed this procedure with their domestic staff.
“Safer Internet Day is a great time to reflect on our personal attitudes and behaviours, and make a concerted choice to take actions that ensure our own safety and that of our children,” said Lavanya Chandan, general counsel of Olx India. “It is in our interest, therefore, to use it in a manner that continues to improve the quality of our lives while staying safe by implementing the same level of caution we exercise in the real world.”
The only saving grace seems to be regarding financial safety. Netizens and smartphone users seem to have a high degree of awareness when it came to bank accounts and mobile phones. About 68 per cent said they had never shared their OTP (One Time Password) or password of their bank account, social media accounts, laptop or phone with anyone.
