Kaspersky Lab’s number of the week: 30% of users store their passwords on smartphones
More and more people are storing their most valuable data on mobile devices. According to a survey conducted by О+К Research in May 2012 for Kaspersky Lab, 30% of users store confidential information – including passwords to social network accounts and other online services – on their smartphones. The survey, which involved 11,000 respondents worldwide, also highlighted other trends in the use of smartphones and tablets.
Not surprisingly, the standard features of a smartphone are reflected in the most common types of stored information: the address book and the SMS archive can be found most often. 50% of smartphone owners use their mobile devices to store personal photos and videos. 21% of respondents store sensitive information such as credit card numbers or bank account login details in their smartphones’ memory. For tablets this figure is even higher – 28%. This shows that tablets are used more like a traditional computer than a smartphone.
Mobile devices are frequently used as a gaming platform – 52% of iPad and 51% of other tablet owners install online games on their devices. This approximately corresponds to the percentage of gamers among the owners of modern smartphones, except for BlackBerry – only 34% use this platform for online games.
Tablets have become popular storage devices for e-books, with 47% of those surveyed using these devices to read books. 45% of smartphone and tablet owners store their emails on their mobile devices, while 35% of tablets are used for work-related correspondence.
The survey suggests that most users do not see a big difference between a traditional desktop computer and a mobile device. They often perform vitally important tasks – including access to bank accounts or making online payments – on any device which is currently at hand. Therefore, to ensure the safety of all devices the best solution is to purchase a universal software package such as Kaspersky ONE. It can be installed on all popular platforms, both mobile and desktop, and ensures there are no more concerns about the integrity of your data, regardless of the device it is stored on.
The full report dedicated to the O+K Research survey is available at: kaspersky-lab_ok-consumer-survey-report_eng_final.pdf
