Skopje, 22 February 2024 (MIA) – Almost three quarters or 72.5 percent of citizens in North Macedonia use security measures when accesing the internet on their devices, eighty percent of them use antivirus software, shows a public opinion survey carried out by the National Centre for Computer Incident Response MKD-CIRT at the Agency for Electronic Communications.

The survey was carried out between October 20 and November 6 of 2023 on a representative sample of 1400 respondents using computer-assisted personal interviews.

“Almost three quarters or 72.5 percent of respondents said they implement security measures when using their devices. Most of them, or 80 percent of respondents who implement such measures, use antivirus software. If all respondents are taken into account, 58 percent use antivirus software,” show the results.

Majority of respondents or 86.5 percent of them update the software, applications and operating systems on their devices. Younger respondents and those with higher levels of education are more likely to update their devices.

More than a third or 37.1 percent of respondents use the auto-update setting on their devices, while around 45 percent accept updates only after they fully or partially read the terms.

Slightly more than three quarters or 78.6 percent of citizens use a password to access their devices. This is more common among younger respondents and those with higher levels of education. Around 20 percent are unable or don’t know how to recognize a secure password.

“Around half of respondents or 48.4 percent remember their passwords and do not write them down, while around one third of them physically write down their passwords in a notebook or keep them written in their computer or mobile phone. Additionally, 15 percent of respondents save their passwords in their browser,” shows the survey.

Respondents most often use their mobile devices and personal computers to connect to the internet, at 99 percent and 75.4 percent respectively. Older citizens and those with lower levels of education are less likely to use a computer or other devices, such as a tablet or a TV, to access the internet.

Most citizens use the internet on their mobile devices for social media – 89.7 percent, 46.1 percent of respondents said they use it for online communication and video calls, 51 percent use it for entertainment, while 60.6 percent reported using e-banking apps on their phones.

“The abuse of personal data concerns respondents the most when they are using the internet, with more than half or 53.4 percent of respondents saying this is their biggest concern. The inability to physically check products [they buy online] is the second biggest concern among respondents at 48.1 percent, while security while paying online is a cause of concern among 40.1 percent of respondents. Around 11 percent of respondents have no concerns when it comes to using the internet for activities such as shopping or e-banking,” shows the survey.

Photo: MIA Archive/printscreen