Data Privacy Surveys
Check Point conducted two surveys in January and February, 2010 to explore consumer experience and attitudes about data privacy and actions taken to protect private data. The first survey was conducted on behalf of Check Point by Harris Interactive, followed by a similar survey of ZoneAlarm customers, conducted by Check Point.
Harris Interactive Survey
The Harris survey interviewed 2,222 adults ages eighteen and over, out of which 789 adults used a personal laptop most frequently. Here are key findings:
| Finding: | |
|---|---|
| Unauthorized access to private data, including credit card information, financial and medical records, private photos and work files was the number one concern for laptop users, ahead of the 35 percent that were mostly worried about the hardware replacement cost. | |
| Question: | |
| If your computer was lost or stolen, which of the following would you be the most concerned about? | |
| Response options (select all that apply) | Percent Laptop Users1 |
| Strangers accessing my private (e.g., credit card information, medical records, financial and tax documents). | 40% |
| Strangers accessing my personal photos, videos and/or music. | 12% |
| Strangers accessing my work files (e.g., confidential patient information, client financial portfolios, small business files) | 4% |
| Other | 3% |
| I would not be concerned. | 6% |
| Total private data concern | 56% |
| Cost of replacing the hardware | 35% |
| Finding: | |
|---|---|
| Only 10 percent of laptop users protect their personal data with full disk encryption. | |
| Question: | |
| Which of the following actions, if any, have you taken to protect your private data stored on your personal computer? | |
| Response options (select all that apply) | Percent Laptop Users1 |
| Installed security software | 56% |
| Established a login password to use at startup | 55% |
| Use full disk encryption | 10% |
| None of the above | 13% |
| Other | 8% |
| I don't have private data stored on my personal computer | 11% |
Harris Survey Methodology
Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. from January 25-27, 2010 via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,222 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. Data were weighted to be representative of the total U.S. adult computer user population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, and race/ethnicity. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.
ZoneAlarm Customers Survey
The ZoneAlarm survey interviewed 159 current ZoneAlarm customers in February 2010. The results were similar to the Harris Interactive findings. Here are key additional findings comparing laptop to desktop PC users.
| Finding: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Desktop users are more likely to use data protection methods (security software, login passwords, encryption) than laptop users. 10% of laptop users do not use any data protection, versus only 4% of desktop users. | ||
| Question: | ||
| Have you taken any actions to protect the private data stored on your computer? | ||
| Response options (select all that apply) | Percent Laptop Users1 | Percent Desktop Users |
| Installed security software | 75% | 87% |
| Use Windows login password | 59% | 54% |
| Use full disk encryption | 26% | 11% |
| None of the above | 10% | 4% |
| Other | 16% | 13% |
| Finding: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Laptops store different information than desktops. Laptops are used to store more tax records and business documents, desktops store more personal photos and videos. | ||
| Question: | ||
| What information are you interested in securing on your computer? | ||
| Response options (select all that apply) | Percent Laptop Users1 | Percent Desktop Users |
| Banking information | 80% | 83% |
| Tax records | 60% | 42% |
| Emails | 73% | 58% |
| Personal photos and/or videos | 60% | 83% |
| Business documents | 67% | 33% |
| Passwords | 87% | 83% |
| Other | 27% | 8% |
1Use laptop most often for personal use