Security Trends by Generation

Cyber650 Week 8

Age is a high price to pay for maturity.  Tom Stoppard

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.   George Orwell

One of those things that I’ve been wondering about lately is the differences in the generations,

demographic groups of people who share common characteristics. The chart gives one breakdown of the currently accepted generation titles and age ranges.  It isn’t news to anyone, that young and old view the Internet differently.  But if we look behind the curtain, there are some interesting differences in how people of different generations view security, online safety and their willingness to buy stuff online. 

I recently stumbled across an online report by a commercial VPN provider who offers a application based service to protect privacy, increase security and hide your location from others on the Internet.  The report, called The Dangers of Our Digital Lives, discusses the apparent disconnect between our attitudes and actions regarding online security.  I would expect that older people would be less trusting and therefore more cautious online.  On the other end of the spectrum, young people would care less about privacy, since they’ve grown up sharing too much information (at least in my opinion) on social media sites.  Of course, the report is biased toward getting people to use their service, but some interesting details come out.  I’ll summarize a few I found interesting here.

- The most secure are those who’ve experienced a security problem.  They improve their security posture by using two-factor authentication, password managers (and probably stronger passwords) and security layers (encryption, two-factor authentication, anonymizers and VPN’s). 

- Two thirds said they want extra layers of security, but very few actually use the tools that are available. 

- Two thirds shred their personal documents, but many post email addresses, home addresses and phone numbers online.

- Sixty percent post inaccurate information on social media as a safety precaution.

So how does age fit into this data?  Does age matter for good security decisions?  According to Kevin Murname, in his Forbes blog about boomers and privacy, baby boomers are the most likely go online daily (93%).  Murname says this is because they spent so much time using PC’s.  He points out the big names in creating the technology behind the Internet are all boomers.  They’re also least likely to use social media.  They’re the least likely to feel safe online.  Older generations like the Internet a lot less. 

So how do the first adopters of the Internet protect themselves?  They tend toward older technology protections such as encryption and anti-virus software and less likely to use two-factor authentication.  Oddly, the millennials felt more protected and reported the most security incidents. 

Just a few more statistics.  In general, most Americans have strong opinions about privacy and confidentiality.  According to a 2015 Pew Research Center report, the majority feel they should be able to maintain privacy about their personal lives.  Ninety three percent say it’s important to control who can get information about them.  Only six percent are confident the government can protect their records.

I’m at the tail end of the baby boomer generation, born in 1960, and I only partially fit demographic.  I took the online quiz that they offer to see what my security profile is and I came up “digitally enlightened.”   Most likely because I’m studying cybersecurity, I take more precautions than most to protect myself. 

What do you do to protect yourself?