A new consumer survey concluded that two-thirds of Americans believe themselves to be tech savvy, although their actions with regard to online security indicate otherwise – with millennials being the worst offenders.

The survey, commissioned by Arbor Networks Inc., the security division of NETSCOUT, also revealed broad anxiety among Americans about their personal online safety as cyber attacks become increasingly mainstream, with at least 75 percent of adults being concerned about their security, privacy, malware or websites tracking them.

With a focus on measuring Americans' online security aptitude, the research examined the viewpoints of 2,056 American adults on topics such as security concerns and incidents, computer and password protection, online practices and impact to their shopping habits.

Bryan Hamman territory manager for sub-Saharan Africa at Arbor Networks, notes that a study similar to the one in the US would be of worth in South Africa, where the adoption of online e-commerce is growing at great speed. "South Africans enjoy the convenience of shopping online," he says. "The EM e-Commerce Industry Report 2016, published by Effective Measure (EM), in conjunction with Visa, showed that as 23 percent of 12,000 respondents shop online at least once a month."

The report also revealed that the top 10 purchases by South African consumers are: books; tickets for events; travel tickets; hotel reservations; DVDs, videos or music; software, holiday packages; clothes and accessories; flowers and gifts; and toys and games.

"That the Internet has connected businesses and people across the globe has become a fact of work and life. Consumers thus need to be cognisant that an attack anywhere in the world could very likely affect them too. Look at the recent attack on Dyn, which suffered the largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) to date – an attack that also affected platforms used locally, such as Twitter and PayPal," continues Hamman.

"Our devices and people are more connected than ever in history, and consumers must realise that security counts - no matter where in the world you reside."

Hamman further notes that South Africans should take the comments made by Christopher Gaebler, chief marketing officer at Arbor Networks, in relation to the American survey, to heart.

Gaebler said: "The big takeaway from this survey is that the relentless headlines about cyber attacks have led to anxiety among a vast majority of Americans. Ironically, this has not driven people to do more to protect themselves online, but quite the contrary. The survey suggested these same people have really poor online security practices – which only makes the attackers' jobs easier. Although cyber attacks are becoming more common, consumers are not powerless. In fact, there are basic steps people can take to protect themselves from the majority of online security threats."

For more information about Arbor in Africa, please contact Bryan Hamman at bhamman@arbor.net