Most consumers fail to renew anti-virus software

More than half of consumers would be prepared to let their anti-virus software go out of date at the end of the subscription period rather than pay to renew for 12 months.

According to a survey of over 1,000 consumers by GFI Software, 40 per cent would not pay to renew their anti-virus, while 15.3 per cent would let their existing anti-virus lapse on the grounds that the renewal process was too difficult or inconvenient.

Also, 35 per cent said that they did not know when their anti-virus was due to expire or if it had expired, while 20 per cent said that they had decided not to renew their subscription.

Walter Scott, CEO of GFI Software, told SC Magazine it was a surprising and validated concept of what people want. He said: “People are different from industry, we know about zero-days and more anti-virus software, the average consumer does not get it, as they are not exposed.

“Businesses are doing a better job and it is not a concern for the consumer as they do not see the threats as much. As the consumer goes online with hosted applications, this is not as critical a threat as it used to be.”

This article originally appeared at scmagazineuk.com