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Washington, D.C. - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - January 12, 2006 - According to a new survey by the BusinessSoftware Alliance (BSA), consumer enthusiasm for online shoppingthis past holiday season appears to have been boosted by confidence inprotective security measures such as anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

More than two out of three U.S. online adults (70 percent) reported thatInternet security concerns did not curtail them from making purchases online,and 38 percent of online holiday shoppers said they spent more online thanthey did last year.

One in three (30%) online adults, however, said securityfears compelled them to shop less online or not at all this holiday season.One in five (20 percent) online adults said Internet security had them “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” this holiday season. Those concerns ran highest among those 55 and older (31% said they were “very” or “extremely” concerned).

BSAcommissioned the survey which was conducted in late December by Harris Interactive. The study examined 2,152 U.S. online adults’ holiday shopping patterns in relationship to their Internet security confidence.

Of those survey respondents who said they shopped online during the holiday season, many said they felt “very confident” or “extremely confident” of their protection from computer viruses (56 percent), credit card fraud (50 percent), identity theft (46 percent), and spyware (41 percent). They reported lower confidence in protection from having their personal information being sold to a third party (28% say they felt very or extremely confident) and from receiving unsolicited spam emails (24% say they felt very or extremely confident).

According to Diane Smiroldo, BSA’s Vice President of Public Affairs, ”The vast majority of shoppers refuse to let security fears stop them, and it appears that many are taking proactive steps to protect themselves and their computers. Yet, a substantial number of shoppers are still wary about e-commerce safety. We don’t doubt that the wide availability of effective security software products that detect and fight cyber security threats is helping to restore consumer confidence in the security of online transactions. Nevertheless, consumers must first recognize that their best defense against potential threats is having a working knowledge of the threats that exist, so that they can make informed decisions about the safety of particular e-commerce sites before they buy.”

The majority of all survey respondents (62 percent) believe that it is safer to shop online from a home computer than a computer at a school, library or other public location or from a computer at one’s place of work. Computers used for holiday shopping were well armed with protective software: 88 percent of online holiday shoppers said the computers they used for shopping had anti-virus software installed and more than three quarters reported having anti-spyware software (78 percent), firewall protection (77 percent), and spam blocking software (77 percent). Confidence in home systems may make employers happy: among those who shopped online this holiday season, nine out of ten (90 percent) said they did so on a home computer. Only 26 percent admitted to shopping from their work computer.

To obtain a copy of the BSA-Harris topline report, please visit: www.bsa.org/usa/research.

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