People are more concerned about their privacy on social media sites than previously thought and change them often. But there are some people out there who do not read the privacy policies.
There are enough warnings out there about cyber threats and slowly people are becoming aware of the dangers and a recent poll shows that users are taking care to guard their social profiles from infringements. But there are still certain people who fail to read the privacy policies and change their default settings.
The comforting news is that four out of five people have changed the privacy settings of their social media accounts in the last six months. The survey was conducted by ESET and Harris Interactive between September 20-24, involving 2,089 people aged 18 and above. The results changed the perception about younger people's practices about privacy, too.
According to the poll, young people were equally concerned about their privacy online, in fact, the study found that 26 percent users aged over 45 never made changes to their privacy settings compared to 11 percent for those aged 18. But 51 percent of overall participants did not read the most recent privacy policy on their social media account.
While most users changed their privacy settings on social media accounts, 28 percent users reported their accounts being hacked in the past, with 53 percent admitted to being hacked this year alone. Also, several users, 79 percent to be exact, received suspicious messages on their social media accounts several times. Despite that, 64 percent participants claimed individuals were responsible for the safety of their accounts. Only 17 percent put their trust with ISPs for the security of their accounts and 12 percent with social media sites.
"If you post pictures from your vacation, are you sure that only your closest friends can see them? If everybody can see them, then they know you're not at your house," Stephen Cobb, a San Diego-based security evangelist at anti-virus software firm ESET, said explaining the necessity of being responsible for self-privacy.
