Abstract
Smartphones are the most popular personal electronic devices. They are used for all sorts of purposes, from managing bank accounts to playing games. As smartphone apps and services proliferate, the amount of sensitive data stored on or processed by handheld devices rise as well. This practice entails risks, such as violating users’ privacy, stealing users’ identities, etc. Particularly, stealing an unlocked device grants full access to sensitive data and applications. In this survey, we examine whether users adopt some basic practices to protect their sensitive personal data themselves, or is there a need to further strengthen their protection? Our statistical analysis assesses smartphone users’ security attitudes and practices among different age groups. Finally, we investigate the factors that affect the attitude of users with respect to their practices for the protection of personal data.The results of this study, show that while many smartphone users do take some security precautions, a high percentage (24%) of them still ignores security and privacy risks. In addition, 19,1 % of users do not follow any practices to protect their PINs and Passwords.
Recommended Citation
Stylios, Ioannis; Kokolakis, Spyros; Thanou, Olga; and Chatzis, Sotirios, "Users’ Attitudes on Mobile Devices: Can Users’ Practices Protect their Sensitive Data?" (2016). MCIS 2016 Proceedings. 1.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/mcis2016/1