A top computer security firm is saying that one in ten people have already fallen victim to data theft.

IT security expert Avira, one of the world’s leading IT security solution companies for both the professional and personal markets, discovered from their web-based moral issue survey, that internet users seriously underestimate the ability of cyber-criminals to access their data.

Over 5,000 people were questioned online and whilst most said they were aware of the security problems posed in today’s high-tech world, they did admit that they weren’t completely prepared for the ingenuity of the modern day cyber criminal.

Avira is a German based company which operates in a number of countries. It is perhaps best known for its virus protection programme called Avira AntiVir Personal, although it also helps protect companies, educational organisations and government authorities from cyber crimes.

And although half of those taking part in the survey said they had not noticed any attack on their data, Avira confirmed its likely only those that use extensive security protection would in fact realise their integrity has been comprised.

Avira pointed out that such is the sophistication of the modern virus programmes, that their detection is increasingly difficult and near-impossible without antivirus pc software.

Perhaps very worryingly, nearly a quarter of the survey participants said they wouldn’t be that concerned if they were attacked, as they doubted if they had anything of interest for the hackers! But Avira were keen to point out this is a dangerous stance and delusionary, mainly because an individual computer can be taken over and used as a bot, part of a bot net which can be used to distribute illegal spam. So a user, unknowing his own computer is part of a bot-net, might find themselves at the wrong end of a visit from the authorities in some cases.

Of those that have already fallen prey to some form of data theft, many had discovered that their Facebook and EBay accounts had been hacked, plus their email accounts. Having your personal accounts hacked in this way can get you into trouble so it important security pc software is used.

Avira’s products also include Avira AntiVir Premium which is also useful for filtering-out phishing sites and Avira Premium Security Suite which offers comprehensive protection.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

June in the U.S. is known as Backup Awareness Month, although how many people know such a thing is debatable.

But even though summer obviously coincides with the time for protecting one’s digital data, recent research reports have shown that over 90% of people still risk loss by not backing-up properly.

They also show that despite campaigns trying to get people to be aware of basic backup techniques, nearly half of computers lose all manner of digital data in a given year, including music files, pictures, hard drive failures and theft.

And for those wondering how often they should back-up their data, the best practice is at least once a day.

It seems there has been an improvement in the amount of people backing up once a week (around 13% to 14%) and people doing the same task monthly (around 26% to 27%), and computer experts are at least gratified that more people are beginning to see the point of backing-up, even though on such an infrequent basis.

And this is especially true when it comes to laptops which have recently outsold desktops as the computer of choice for many people. But experts point out that laptops are inherently more vulnerable than desktops, not least because they are often mobile and susceptible to a higher chance of damage and theft, making regular back-ups a necessity.

Also, computer users should bear in mind an average modern computer can hold a vast amount of data which could be impossible to replace if not regularly backed up. A hard drive of some 300 GB is able to store nearly 100 full-length films, a staggering 30,000 photographs and over 20,000 music files.

Yet many users, with such amounts of data on their systems (not forgetting their handheld devices and mobile telephones), seem oblivious to the risks involved. It is hoped that Backup Awareness Month will make some inroads into the lethargy.

Guest Article by Neil Camp