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Spam low in SA

By Ilva Pieterse, ITWeb contributor
Johannesburg, 12 Jun 2006

The majority (81%) of South Africans receive less than 10 spam e-mails a day, yet 24% admit to not using anti-spam software, a recent information security survey reveals.

The survey was conducted over a two-month period by software company TimBukOne and comprised almost 1 000 respondents from all ages and levels of IT know-how.

Results also showed that although 95% of respondents rate PC data to be important or very important, 64% never encrypt files.

"This is surprising especially because it is so simple to encrypt data," explains Jos Pols, TimBukOne`s founder. "Anyone with Windows XP can achieve folder encryption with a few mouse clicks. Encryption is a fundamental foundation."

With regards to passwords, many respondents admitted to having very weak ones with 86% saying their passwords contain seven characters or less. Forty-five percent don`t combine upper and lower case letters for their most important passwords and 35% never change their passwords.

"This shows that many of us are living under a false sense of security," says Pols. "And with laptops getting stolen all the time, encryption and passwords are becoming so vital."

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