Consumers Need to Rethink IT Security and Safety
Hackers and crackers and data breaches! Oh my! Confused? Overwhelmed? Don’t care? You should, and there’s help.
Few people are head first into gadgets, technology, the cloud and security as I. I have my devices, my wife’s, my kids, there’s Apple products, Microsoft Windows, smart phones, feature phones and tablets. It’s maddening.
Now instead of one PC per household, consumers are purchasing multiple devices . And with consumers able to access the digital world as easily from their smartphones and tablets as from their personal computer, PCs are no longer the main method of connecting to the Internet.
This wave of new devices and their ease of connectivity also means that consumers are now starting to think differently about their digital security.
Mobile Device Users
The threat of lost or stolen devices and the possibility of their personal information being used for fraudulent means a significant concern. In the United States 113 mobile phones are lost every minute and more than half of smartphone users do not use any password protection to prevent unauthorized device access.
Mac UsersMac OS is not safe from viruses. As of late last year there were 5,000 malware versions targeting the Mac, a number that is growing by ten percent per month.
Child and Teen Users
Are your kids they being exposed to pornography? Will they be contacted by strangers through their social networking profiles? Are they downloading age-appropriate music and movies? Having protection on the household PC is no longer enough. Parents need to know that their children are safe on all the devices they use, wherever they connect.
Solutions
It is here and called McAfee All Access. Before consumers had to look for and download a hodge podge of security software from numerous vendors with multiple “keys” to activate. What McAfee knew consumers wanted was an “all in one” solution that for once and for all provides a dashboard to manage all your devices from one place regardless of if it is a PC, smartphones, tablets, netbooks, or Mac.
Robert Siciliano is an Online Security Evangelist to McAfee. See him discussing identity theft on YouTube. (Disclosures)
