Kaspersky Lab – Why we need to protect what we no longer remember – “Key findings from the study include:

• Across the United States, the study shows that an overwhelming number of consumers can easily admit their dependency on the Internet and devices as a tool for remembering. Almost all (91.2%) of those surveyed agreed that they use the Internet as an online extension of their brain. Almost half (44.0%) also admit that their smartphone serves as their memory–everything they need to recall and want to have easy access to is all on it.

• In addition, many consumers are happy to forget, or risk forgetting information they can easily find–or find again- online. When faced with a question, half of U.S. consumers would turn to the Internet before trying to remember and 28.9% would forget an online fact as soon as they had used it.

• Although dependence on devices appears high, when asked, most participants could phone the house they lived in at 15 (67.4%) as well as their partners (69.7%), children (34.5%), and place of work (45.4%). They could not however call their siblings (44.2%), friends (51.4%), or neighbors (70.0%) without first looking up the number.

• Contrary to general assumptions, Digital Amnesia is not only affecting younger digital natives–the study found that it was equally and some times more prevalent in older age groups.

• The loss or compromise of data stored on digital devices, and smartphones in particular, would cause immense distress, particularly among women and people under 35. More than half of women (51.0%) and almost the same number of 25 to 34 year-olds (48.6%) say it would fill them with sadness, since there are memories stored on their connected devices that they would never get back. However, it caused the even younger participants the most fear. One in four women (27.1%) and 35.0% of respondents age 16 to 24 say they would panic: their devices are the only place they store images and contact information.

• Worryingly, despite this growing reliance on connected devices, the study found that consumers across America are failing to adequately protect them with IT security. Just one in three (30.5%) installs extra IT security, such as an anti-virus software solution on their smartphone and one in five (20.7%) adds any security to their tablet. 28.0% doesn’t protect any of their devices.”