Just one in nine UK surfers feels safe online

Spam still one of the biggest problems

Fewer than one in 10 UK consumers feels 'totally safe' using their computer at home, according to research published today.

A YouGov survey of 5,805 citizens found that the number of UK consumers installing basic IT security measures has actually dropped over the past year.

"Some 78 per cent of consumers have some form of antivirus software and 53 per cent have a firewall, but this is actually a drop over the past six months, " said John Bosnell, senior analyst at Point Topic which commissioned the research.

"Our previous survey in the series returned 85 per cent and 56 per cent for users saying they have adopted those precautions."

Bosnell added that it is difficult to explain what seems to be a " counterintuitive trend".

The study highlighted an increase in awareness of phishing and social engineering attacks, but spam was found to be an enduring problem.

"Spammers are not going to go away. They will evolve their tactics to beat improved filters and other systems," said Bosnell.

"As well as sending out an ever-increasing volume of malicious email, it is likely that they will become more reliant on social engineering to bypass some security features.

"Ultimately there is no security that can protect an individual from their own actions."

The worldwide security industry continues to grow, with estimated revenues of $1.4bn at the start of 2007, up over 50 per cent in 12 months, according to Point Topic.