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Calgary, AB is "Canada's safest cyber city", according to security software vendor Symantec (Canada) Corp.

When it comes to maintaining safety on their home PCs, Calgarians fare better than the rest, reveals a Symantec sponsored survey, the results of which were announced today.

The survey was conducted by Harris/Decima, an Ottawa-based market research firm.

It investigated security awareness and practices among residents of seven major cities across Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax.

The survey's goal was to provide "insight into Canadians' overall knowledge of Internet security threats, and their attitudes toward security software," Symantec Canada said in a statement.

Totally 2,536 respondents – 18 years and older – were polled between Sept. 24 and Oct.3.

Interestingly, on the issue of the "concern about security", Toronto scored higher (94 per cent) than Calgary (91 per cent).  

However, when it came to having the latest security software installed on computers, Calgary fared best, with 90 per cent of the respondents there saying their software was "up to date."

Symantec plans to present Calgary's mayor with an award acknowledging the city's designation as “Canada's safest cyber city."

Security consciousness appears to be as high in Toronto as it is in Calgary.

Apart from having the most concern about home PC safety, 63 per cent of Toronto respondents (a tie with Calgary) said they are likely to purchase the latest version of security software at least once a year.

Only 54 per cent of Montréalers have the same plans.

Another interesting finding has to do with the respondents' awareness of the various categories of security threats.

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of those surveyed had either themselves fallen victim to online fraud/ID theft, or knew someone who had.

Security consciousness

Of five online threats – phishing, spam, Trojans, worms and botnets – botnets are the least known, with only 24 per cent respondents having heard of them.

By contrast nearly everyone (99 per cent) was aware of spam. And the vast majority recognized worms (94 per cent), Trojans (86 per cent) and phishing (78 per cent) as security threats.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of respondents hadn't even heard of botnets isn't something to be unduly concerned about, says one Canadian security expert.

That's because the same measures companies and consumers use to counter Trojans, worms, viruses and spyware minimize, the chances of their PCs becoming part of a botnet, said David Senf, director of Canadian security and software research at analyst firm  IDC Canada in Toronto.

"It isn't critical that they understand the underlying technology behind a [botnet], though it would be great if they did."   

The analyst said while security awareness and education are vital they should cover many different things.

For instance, he said, a business needs to be aware of its assets and their value.

"Based on that the firm also needs to understand its vulnerabilities, how those could compromise its assets, and, ultimately, the types of countermeasures it needs to put in place to protect against those threats."

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