TISM survey pinpoints 2012 computer security issues

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It’s not the infamous Y2K scare of 2000, but as a new calendar year begins, two MSU professors are continuing research to help protect home computer owners.

Emilee Rader and Rick Wash, assistant professors in the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies and Media, received two grants totaling nearly $500,000 last August from the National Science Foundation to conduct research about how people think about home computer protection and now are preparing to release a large-scale survey to home computer users.

“Home computer security is something that’s really, really hard for people that aren’t technical experts,” Rader said. “You can install anti-virus (software) and you can not click on shady links. … Typically home computer users are not really that good at following expert advice.”

The purpose of the study is to find out where and how people learn about computer security and how that leads to their decisions when it comes to computer defense, Rader said.

“We want to find out more about the different mental models people have about computer security and things like hackers and viruses,” she said.

The study began in September, when the research team administered a survey to MSU undergraduate students asking them to describe stories about their own computer security problems in the past or of someone they know, Rader said. The next step in the project is a large-scale survey about computer security behaviors administered to a sample of people representative of the U.S. population, she said.

“Your actions on your own computer, they might not affect you very much, but if someone takes over your computer, they can send spam email from it while you’re asleep, and you might not even know that’s happening,” Rader said.

Computer science junior Anuj Rama, who hasn’t had any viruses on his own computer, said learning how to protect computers from outside threats is one’s own responsibility.

“On a personal basis, you should know that there are people out there trying to take over your computer all the time,” Rama said. “As a professor, I don’t think you have to teach anyone about that or let people know.”

Chris Jones, network engineer at Spartan Tech Center, 228 Abbot Road, said about 60-65 percent of the problems reported to the store are virus- or malware-related.

“(Computer security) is a topic that more consumer people should be aware of,” Jones said. “Especially when it comes to security with credit cards and banking and stuff.”

Jones said as much as people can be educated on computer security strategies, they still fail to follow the expert advice at times.

“We can provide all of the research and valuable information to them,” he said. “It’s just whether or not they follow it.”

Virtual threats today have expanded to the social media arena on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, Rader said.

“The landscape of computer security is constantly changing,” she said. “That’s what makes this such a hard problem. It’s not that people are stupid — it’s that there’s just so much to keep up with all the time.”

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