Publication date: 11 Aug 2020

2020 has already seen many online records. Pandemic lockdowns forced people to spend more of their life online: communication, purchases, entertainment, work. But has the internet become a safer place?

Workspace platform has asked Russian users about threats they face most often, measures they take to protect personal data and resources they consider as potentially unsafe.

78% of respondents have faced at least one of the following problems:

What internet-related problems have you faced?

Website, email, social media hacking — 47.0%; Internet fraud — 42.0%; DDoS/virus attack — 33.0%; Have not faced any problems — 22.0%; Data breach — 16.0%; Cyberbullying, cyberstalking — 10.0%.

The most popular measures taken to protect personal data online:

• 51% of respondents use antivirus software (Kaspersky Antivirus is considered to be the most secure by 23% of respondents; 15% of respondents, however, think antivirus software is useless);
• 44% change passwords from time to time;
• 36% try not to post their photos on the internet;
• 31% clear their browsing history and chats from time to time;
• 24% cover or disable webcams when not in use. 

• It is worth noting: One fifth of Russia’s population don’t use the internet

Internet fraud is so entrenched in the lives of internet users that quite often it is not even perceived as such — at least, if it is not about losing money. 47% of respondents, however, have faced at least one of type of fraud at least once in their life:

What type of fraud have you faced?

None — 53.0%; Opened a link in an email from fraudsters — 18.0%; Made a purchase on an ads aggregator website and didn’t receive it — 9.0%; Made a purchase on a fake website — 8.0%; Took part in a competition with a foregone outcome — 8.0%; Downloaded ransomware — 7.0%; Donated to scammers after seeing a post on social media — 6.0%; Send money to a friend whose personal account was hacked — 6.0%; Donated through crowdfunding to scammers — 3.0%; Paid a delivery fee to receive a prize I had “won” — 1.0%.

The main sources of threat on the internet according to users:

• 70% — online casinos and websites with online games;
• 65% — porn websites;
• 46% — dating websites;
• 44% — ads aggregator websites;
• 44% — BitTorrent websites;
• 30% — social networks;
• 24% — email services;
• 21% — video hosting websites;
• 19% — news aggregator websites.

Though 78% of respondents have faced internet-related problems, about half of them assess the Runet’s security at 3 out of 5 points, and a quarter of them give 4 points. Young people gave the most positive assessments of the current situation — 4 or 5 points.

1292 respondents took part in the survey, 63% of whom are men, 40% are people under the age of 30, 36% are aged between 31 and 40 years, 5% are under the age of 20. 25% are from Moscow, 10% from Saint Petersburg, 20% from the CIS countries, the rest are from other large cities in Russia. About 40% of respondents assess their online competencies at 5 out of 5; the internet is the source of their income.