Polls

There are stories about computer security in the news every day, but it can be hard to find an unbiased opinion, or even hard facts. Virus Bulletin would like to know your experiences and opinions about the topics that concern computer users. Whether you're the CEO of an anti-malware company, administrator of a large corporate network or a home user, we'd like to know about your experiences and opinions.

On this page you will find an overview of the previous polls that have run on Virus Bulletin. The current poll can be found on the right-hand side of the page.

Suggest a poll

Is there a question you think we should ask our users? Click here to suggest a poll!

Previous polls

Are you still running IE 6?

How do you run your anti-malware solution?

Have you ever come across a fake anti-virus product?

Would you be willing to give 1 cent to charity for every email you sent, if that would help stop spam?

Does your company have an IT security policy?

How should software and OS patching/security updates be managed?

Should Mac and Linux users be running security/anti-malware software?

Does your organization have a password policy?

How much trust do you put in the warnings that appear next to sites listed in search engine results?

Who in your company is responsible for installing software patches?

How are your spam levels compared to two months ago?

Should anti-virus software be free for personal use?

Will taking client-side security 'into the cloud' provide better security for the end user?

Will the current banking crisis lead to an increase in phishing attacks?

Have you ever been conned by a phishing email?

Is it reasonable to teach virus writing as part of a computer security course?

Have you ever actually read an End-User License Agreement?

Is 47 months imprisonment sufficient punishment for a convicted spammer?

Should AV software check search engine results for malicious sites even before the user clicks on them?

Will new browsers like Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 8 and Opera 9.5 help fight web-based malware?

When do you feel most at risk from malware and cybercrime?

What was the main reason for choosing your current anti-virus product?

Are virus-writing contests a good idea?

Should online banking customers be held liable for losses via phishing/online scams if they don't have adequate protection on their PCs?

How often do you check your spam folder for false positives?

Do you use security software on your mobile phone?

Do you ever forward chain letters?

The results of 1.3 per cent of all Google searches contain sites serving malware. Should search engines do more to prevent malicious sites appearing in their results?

Who should take ultimate responsibility for computer security?

Has your antivirus software ever produced a false alert?

Some reports suggest that less than 3% of email traffic in December was legitimate. How many spam messages get past your spam filter and make it through to your inbox?

$3.2 billion was lost in phishing attacks in 2007. Do you think this is going to be worse in 2008?

Should governments be allowed to write viruses to bug terrorists?

Has Windows Vista made the web a safer place?

Do you feel safe banking online?

Have you suffered a malware infection that wasn't spotted by your anti-virus software?

Does your company block any social networking sites?

Is it acceptable to demand money for information on software vulnerabilities?

Current poll

Do you use the same password(s) across multiple websites?

Comments

Using a different password per site (and various other things) means I need to maintain a password safe (KeePass) ... which currently contains over 450 entries!

by Graeme Nelson, 23 February 2010, 22:19

Let's face it, human memory is limited. It would be nice to have a different and very strong password for each site, e-mail, bank card or system account, but in practice this is simply not feasible. Password safes are not always readily accessible and can become weak links themselves, compromising all the rest.That's like putting all the eggs in a single basket and I don't like the idea.

What I do is have a set of passwords with varying lengths and degrees of strength depending on what I am risking - I have no industrial or national security secrets anyone would be interested in, but when my credit cards or financial information are involved, of course I am more careful. My passwords are all based on very personal things and events, are not in standard dictionaries and would be hard to guess, but they all have something that makes them easy for *me* to remember.

I also try to use virtual keyboards whenever possible (I have a portable virtual keyboard application in a USB flash drive), but can't wait until biometric identification is perfected, cheap and commonplace. In spite of what we see in films of people using fingerprint moulds, contact lenses with fake retinal IDs and voice recordings, in practice it will still be much more secure than typing passwords or using hardware keys and dongles that can fail or be lost.

by Goyta' F. Villela Jr., 04 March 2010, 17:30

While using some password duplication, I try to avoid using sites dependent on password authentication for things like banking, where a security breach can cost me a lot of money.

by Martin Rubinstein, 06 March 2010, 15:44

I'm kinda stuck between the middle two options - I have a set of formulas to generate a password for each site, using a combination of a standard 'word' (not an actual word) with a set of characters from the site name, slightly diddled - actually I use several different standard words and character selection/diddling schemes, depending on the sensitivity of the site. So, I sort of use the same password for several sites, but it's also a bit different each time.

My thinking is that it would make it difficult for anyone who'd intercepted one to work out the others (although far from impossible, especially if done by an actual human), while making it easy for me to work out what my password is, based only on the url and how important it seems. Banking sites etc. have unique and more complex words/formulas, and I only visit them from extreme-paranoia protected machines.

I can see how this might be a bit too much effort for some people - I know most still think it's enough to go with their football team etc for any site they visit, mostly inspired by lame movies where they have to crack the bad guy's password with three guesses and need a genius detective to figure out that it must be 'Jeremy' or something.

by Paul Westlake, 09 March 2010, 15:13