Three in 10 catch ‘Digital STI’ after watching online porn
Nearly a third of British adults (30%) have contracted a virus on their laptop, computer or mobile device after looking at adult content online, according to new research released today, which reveals that by not protecting themselves adequately many could be at risk of contracting a ‘Digital STI’.
The new study of 1,000 adults by cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky Lab, reveals that the shame of infection has left one in six respondents (17%) blaming other family members or friends as culprits for their devices contracting infections after they themselves had visited adult sites.
On average, participants said they looked at adult content on their computer or other device five times per week, with two fifths (41%) admitting that they look at adult content at least once per day, spending on average 23 minutes browsing adult sites per visit.
This equates to over 4 days of browsing adult content per year – or 104 hours. Of those surveyed, a fifth (20%) admitted to looking at adult sites while using their work computer, tablet or phone.
More than one in ten (12%) revealed that they do not practise safe surfing, as they have no internet security solution installed on their computers or other devices. A quarter (25%) mistakenly thought they were safe looking at adult websites on smartphones and tablets, as they believed these devices could not get infected.
New global research from Kaspersky Lab reveals mobile malware often hides behind adult content to attract users. Researchers have seen 23 families of Android malware using pornography content to hide its real functionality.
You can see Kaspersky’s video illustrating the problem below:
Says David Jacoby, Security Evangelist, spokesperson for Kaspersky Lab:
“British adults are being caught with their pants down when it comes to online safe surfing with many not using any form of cyber contraception.
“In 2017 we identified at least 27 variations of PC malware which specifically hunt for credentials to paid adult content websites. Adult sites are attractive to cyber criminals because they have a vast number of users to potentially infect and those users are less likely to report the infection due to the embarrassing nature of how they got it.
“Kaspersky Lab sees around 323,000 malware bugs everyday which are designed to either steal your identity, corrupt computer files or hold you to ransom.”
A fifth of respondents (19%) thought they were safe using their web browser in private mode, while 28% believed their computers were safe from viruses if they cleared their browsing history.
Of those surveyed, 18% admitted to lying about contracting a digital virus because they thought it may have come from browsing an adult website. A fifth (20%) revealed they had been caught red handed looking at adult content by a friend, family member or partner.
The ten digital STIs that can harm your device when you’re looking at adult content:
- Trojans – They might masquerade as innocent programs, but they carry a harmful payload
- Drive-by downloads – Drive-by downloads are a common method of spreading malware. Cybercriminals look for insecure web sites and plant a malicious script into the code on the pages. They take advantage of any unpatched applications on your computer, infecting you automatically when you visit the site
- Click-jacking – Click-jacking involves tricking someone into clicking on one object on a web page while they think they are clicking on another. Clickjacking could be used to install malware, to gain access to one of the victim’s online accounts, or to enable the victim’s webcam.
- Tinder bots – Automatic programs that are designed to masquerade as real people on a dating site and try to lure people into clicking on them, with the aim of tricking the victim into disclosing confidential data.
- Cat-Phishing – Cybercriminals posing on dating sites or chat rooms, encouraging people to click on links for live sex chat or adult images
- Ransomware – Cybercriminals use ‘blockers’ to stop the victim accessing their device, often telling the victim that this is due to ‘illegal pornographic content’ being identified on their device – anyone who has accessed porn online is probably less likely to take the matter up with law enforcement
- Worm – a program that replicates, but does not write its code to other files: instead, it installs itself once on a victim’s device and then looks for a way to spread to other devices
- Pornware – could be a legitimate program, but might be adware installed by another malicious program, designed to deliver inappropriate content to the victim’s device
- Spyware – software that enables an attacker to secretly obtain information about the victim’s online activities and transmit it covertly from their device
- Fake Anti-virus – Fake anti-virus programs prey on people’s fear of malicious software which they believe may have been installed whilst looking at porn
The top ten most commonly mis-held beliefs for keeping computers clear of Digital STIs while surfing adult websites:1. Clearing your browsing history protects your computer from viruses – 50%
2. Apple Mac computers can’t get viruses – only PCs can get infected – 46%
3. Pop-ups saying you have a virus on your computer mean you have a virus on your computer – 41%
4. Porn sites are inherently more dangerous for contracting viruses – 39%
5. Having a general firewall on your computer will prevent you from all viruses – 38%
6. Using your browser in private mode (e.g.: Google Incognito) stops your computer from getting infected – 38%
7. You can’t catch infections by accessing adult sites on your smart phone or tablet – 34%
8. Your computer will always show symptoms if it is infected – 34%
9. You have to be asked to download a file to be at risk of a virus – 32%
10. If you contract a virus, copying your files to a backup drive, re-installing Windows and copying them back, erases the virus – 28%
The latest global figures from Kaspersky Lab reveal that 25.4% (at least 1.2 million users) of mobile users encountered a malware attack at least once in 2017, and 199 million URLs were recognised as malicious. In 2017, there were a billion malicious online attacks.
You can download the full Global Report into Cyberthreats to users of adult content here: https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/porn-themed-threats-report/20891/. The research surveyed 1000 British adults and was carried out by poll agency 3Gem, between the 11th October and 31st October 2017
