Singaporeans lagging in cybersecurity practices despite growing awareness of online threats

Only five in 10 have cybersecurity apps installed on their phone.

More Singaporeans believe they'll be victims of online scams in 2022 than in 2020 (43% vs. 32%). Despite this awareness, many still fail to adopt cybersecurity practices.

Data from Singapore's Cyber Security Agency (CSA) showed that eight in 10 Singaporeans have common utility apps installed in their phone like banking, commerce, and transport, but only five in 10 have cybersecurity apps.

Only 35% of Singaporeans also enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) in messaging accounts, personal emails and social media.

The majority of users and owners of IoT devices also don't know how to secure their devices.

Data from CSA showed that less than one in five knew of the steps to secure IoT devices Of the 84% who owned and/or used one or more IoT devices, half indicated that they used an alphanumeric password with at least 12 characters, whilst about four in 10 said that they changed the default password.

Compared to 2020 figures, however, CSA said there has been an improvement in cybersecurity practices adoption amongst Singaporeans.

Adoption, however, has yet to catch up with Singaporeans' "higher perceived likelihood about falling victim to cyber incidents and online scams."

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Cyber Security Agency

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