If you're still doing this online, Google is judging you

Google SA has appealed to South Africans to step up their online game. 

On Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, Google SA released the YouGov study, which revealed that South Africans needed to take online safety a lot more seriously. The study was commissioned by Google and surveyed 1,005 internet users in the country. 

The results show that 43% of South Africans use one password for most or all online accounts.

The study showed that few of us actually take advantage of readily available services to safeguard our accounts, even though more than a quarter of respondents had experienced someone gaining unauthorised access to their social media or email accounts. 

The study also found: 

• Only 34% of South Africans use 2-step verification for all their online accounts.
• 11% have no recovery phone number or email address for their online accounts.
• About 21% update their online passwords less frequently than once every six months.
• At least 26% never use tools like Google Security Check-Up to review their security settings.

Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, head of Google SA public policy and government relations, said the results were concerning.

“This research shows that South Africans are well aware of the dangers that present themselves online, yet so few are proactively using tools available to protect them from online predators.”

The study also found that 53% of respondents had received phishing emails from people imitating legitimate sources in order to fraudulently gain access to their personal information, including passwords and bank details.

“Another whopping 24% of South African internet users admit to having fallen victim to online scams in which they ended up making upfront payment for a product or service that did not exist,” Google SA said.

“This Safer Internet Day, we want to encourage South Africans to take their online safety more seriously and educate themselves on the tools available out there, such as the Google Security Check-Up and other free tools such as 2-step verification,” said Mgwili-Sibanda.