Mobile Security Awareness Not Keeping Pace With That of PCs: McAfee

Though consumers understand their desktops and laptops need protection against cyberthreats, awareness of the need for smartphone security “has not kept pace,” a McAfee study found. The company hired MSI International to canvass 15,500 parents in 10 countries of children 10-18 years old in December, plus 12,000 of their kids, finding most children (59%) think a new phone is more secure than a new computer, but parents are equally split (49%). Though 56% of parents use passwords to protect mobile devices, only 41% of children and teens do so, it said. In the U.S., 29% of boys 10-14 reported a threat to their mobile device accounts compared with 16% of girls the same age, it said.