Consumers May "Get" Cyber Security -- But That Doesn't Mean They've Got It

More than 90 percent of consumers think their PCs -- and their computing habits -- are safe. Half of them are wrong.The unsafe consumer computing habits revealed in a new survey by McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance ought to be shocking but they're not.

Virtually everyone, as the survey showed, now knows how dangerous the on-line environment is. But we all know people who are confident they're secure on-line but who still

Let anti-virus subscriptions expire

Don't update anti-virus and other security programs

Get the programs but don't install them

Install the programs but fail to activate them

And more.

Where the consumer findings hit home isn't just at home -- these are your business's customers, vendors and, yes, employees.

Anyone who's responsible for her or his own cyber security programs and practices, or even a portion of them, is a potential risk-point.

And according the survey's findings, half of them are more than potential risks -- they're probable ones.

Time for you and your tech staff to add computer security instruction as a regular -- and regularly updated -- aspect of your overall security array.

And while you're educating, don't underestimate the pervasiveness of that false sense of security and the bad computing habits they enable. Over-confidence and under-education are as large a challenge to your business security as the hackers, phishers and cyber criminals who exploit those very qualities.