Awareness of online security and safety features UK 2013-2015

This statistic displays the findings of a survey on the awareness of selected online securities measures and safety features among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2013 and 2015. Awareness of anti-virus software was highest among UK internet users with 93 percent of respondents in the 2013 survey stating that they were aware of it. The share of aware respondents declined to 89 percent in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, ad blocking software was added as a new answer category. Almost 50 percent of respondents stated that they were aware of software for blocking ads.

Which of the following online security measures or safety features had you heard of before today?*

Characteristic	2013	2014	2015
Anti-virus software	93%	89%	89%
Firewall	89%	79%	82%
Protecting your home WiFi connection to prevent other people from outside the home from using it	73%	62%	62%
Email filters that can block unwanted or spam emails	79%	67%	68%
Deleting cookies from your web browser	72%	58%	60%
Anti-spyware	75%	65%	65%
Ad blocking software (since 2015)	-	-	48%

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Release date

April 2016

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

2013 to 2015***

Number of respondents

1,398**

Age group

16 years and older

Special properties

adults who go online at home using any device

Method of interview

Computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI)

Supplementary notes

* The original survey question was: "Before today, which, if any, of the following online security measures or safety features had you heard of?/ And which if any, of those measures or features do you have or use on any of the devices you use to go online at home that are owned by you or a member of your household?"
Responses were prompted, single-coded.
** n (2013) = 1,272; n (2014) = 1,573; n (2015) = 1,398.
*** Most recent survey was carried out from Septmeber to October 2015.

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