One in four Irish PCs have suffered virus

More than 40% of Irish home and work PCs have been affected by a virus in the past year, according to the results of a study released today.

The research was presented today by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, as he called on PC users to educate themselves about IT security issues.

He was speaking at an event to mark Ireland's first 'make IT secure' Day. The aim of 'make IT secure' is to share simple and straight forward information with all PC users about how they can get secure and stay secure online.

The 'make IT secure' research, carried out by Amarach Consulting, revealed that over four in ten home and work PC's have been affected by viruses in the past (home - 43%, work - 46%).

While high numbers of Internet users both at home (77%) and at work (85%) have anti-virus software installed, a high proportion of users could not remember the last time they updated their software or admitted to updating it over three months ago.

Work users are much more likely to create back-ups of their files on their PCs than home users (work - 82%, home - 46%).

'Make IT secure', is a nationwide information and awareness campaign about IT security issues led by a public/private consortium including, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Microsoft, Eircom, HP, Dell, Symantec, Esat BT and Ward Solutions.