Computer viruses hit 50pc of Dutch users
1 May 2003
AMSTERDAM — Half of all Internet users in the Netherlands have
had to deal at least once with a computer virus, meaning 35 percent of
all Dutch people aged 16 and above have been confronted by a computer
virus.
Some 57 percent of people aged 16 and over now use the Internet at
least weekly, a significant increase on 2002 when 51 percent were
Internet users, according to Amsterdam-based market research
organisation NFO Trendbox.
Trendbox has carried out regular surveys of Internet use in the
Netherlands since 1995. The company says that the continued growth in
Internet use is mainly due to an increasing number of men going online.
In total, 71 percent of Dutch men have clicked onto the World Wide
Web.
But alongside the positive trends in Internet use, Trendbox says that
negative aspects — such as computer viruses spread online — are an
increasing phenomenon. Half of all Dutch Internet users have received
a virus via the web, amounting to 35 percent of all Dutch people aged
16 and above.
Trendbox's Gerton Poot said on Thursday that this has led to users
becoming wary of the medium.
"Seventeen percent of online Dutch people do not dare to
complete certain transactions over the Internet out of fear for
viruses," Poot said.
"Fifty-three percent of this group don't dare to open emails
from unknown senders. Some 21 percent worry about downloading computer
programmes and 19 percent do not dare anymore to download any
files."
Poot said nine percent of people polled said Internet banking was
too risky, but the popularity of online banking continues to grow in
the Netherlands. In 2003, some 36 percent of Dutch people bank online,
up from 31 percent in October 2002.
Interestingly, some 87 percent of people hit by computer viruses
received them via a computer in their home, while 36 percent told of
having a virus sent to their computer in work. To counter the threat,
90 percent of Interneters have anti-virus protection installed on
their computers.
[Copyright Expatica News 2003]
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