Kaspersky experts analyzed the digital superstitions that internet users believe these days and explored whether these beliefs are justified. According to the results of the “Kaspersky Digital Superstitions Survey”, the most common superstition is not to say “Yes” or “No” when talking to strangers on the phone. 87% of respondents from Turkey believe that conversations can be recorded and used to steal money from their banking accounts.
Another common misconception that 85 percent of respondents believe is that a website guarantees the authenticity of the HTTPS protocol. The HTTPS certificate means that personal data cannot be accessed from outside the website, but it can also be stolen by the site itself if this data is a source of phishing.
More than half (56 percent) of respondents believe it is possible to erase all information on a smartphone by restoring it to factory settings. In fact, data can usually be recovered after factory reset and formatting. The specification of storage on devices means that data is only deleted if overwritten; this does not happen during reset.
62 percent of respondents in Turkey think malware infection is impossible if the device is not connected to the internet. Using a flash drive or other removable disk, the device can be infected without being connected to the Internet.
Four out of five users (85 percent) surveyed think that the “Incognito” mode in the browser ensures complete anonymity on the internet. However, the "Incognito" mode does not guarantee absolute privacy. In this mode, the browser cannot save the history of websites visited, cookies, download history and authorization data, which does not equal complete anonymity.
“We are fighting digital superstitions”
Ilkem Ozar, Managing Director of Kaspersky Turkey, states: “Digital superstitions arise as a result of concerns often associated with the complexity or obscurity of technology. It is important to be informed about technology and the digital world and to think in harmony with reality. We have been fighting digital superstitions as well as threats for more than 25 years. We can see that over a third of the users surveyed still believe that cactus plants absorb potentially harmful radiation emitted from a monitor. That's why we think it's important to continually improve digital literacy and use security solutions."
To protect against various cyber threats, Kaspersky experts recommend the following tips:
Pay attention to privacy settings on social networks and popular platforms.
Use strong and unique passwords for all your accounts (at least 12 characters with different letters, numbers and special characters), store them in password managers.
On services that allow this, set up two-factor authorization.
Download applications only from official stores and periodically check what programs are installed on the device.
Do not follow suspicious links in the mail, instant messengers or social networks (even if they are sent by friends).
Before entering your personal or payment data, carefully check the name of the site in the address bar.
Do not believe the myths and constantly improve your digital literacy and install a reliable security solution on all devices, including mobile devices, so that you do not worry about the security of your data.