How connected are you? A Mozilla survey reveals some interesting facts

New research has found that the more tech savvy people are, the more optimistic they feel about a “connected” future but the loss of privacy was uppermost on users’ minds.

The global study by Mozilla in August this year had quizzed people about their relationships with their connected devices, like smart TVs, Fitbits, and routers. Questions ranged from “What connected devices do you own? to “What is your biggest fear as we move toward a more connected future?”

According to a post on Medium by Jean Caltrider, Mozilla global campaigner, nearly 190,000 people around the world had responded. People from the tiny islands of Tuvalu to the huge landmass of China and everywhere in between. (Mozilla released the survey in six languages: English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, and Portuguese.)

The 10 most prominent findings of this survey included:

Fewer than 30 per cent of respondents said they could explain IoT (Internet of Things), botnets, blockchain, RFID, or Zero Day Vulnerability to a friend. Fewer than 40 per cent of respondents said they could explain DDOS attacks or TOR. The only two things more than half of the respondents said they could explain to a friend were VPN (Virtual Private Network) and connected devices.

People are divided over who is responsible for making connected devices private and secure
One-third of respondents believed the makers of connected products were responsible for building privacy and security into their devices. One-third said it was up to individuals to protect themselves Online. The remaining third of respondents were divided between believing the government was responsible for Online privacy and security and just not knowing who should be responsible.


People aren’t sure who to trust to help them be secure online
Most respondents — 40 per cent — trusted non-profit organisations the most to help them protect themselves Online. The more technically savvy that people viewed themselves, the more they trusted nonprofits. On the flip side, 27 per cent of people reported they just did not know who to trust. That number jumped to 45 per cent among people who identified as the least technically savvy. Almost nobody said they trusted the media (3 per cent) or the government (2 per cent ) to help protect them Online.

 

Image Credit: Mozilla
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