The last year was tough on our private data. Password thefts were up 60% comparing to 2018, login credential thefts were also on the rise – those for online porn and adult sites (oops) in particular grew by more than 100%.
This has led to over half of internet users (56%) feeling that a complete privacy in the modern digital world is impossible, and one-in-three (32.3%) people feeling unsure how they can fully protect their privacy online. So it is no surprise that a new survey by Kaspersky showed that 42.3% would make a digital New Year’s resolution for 2020, rather than the more traditional ‘lose weight, get healthy’ kind. The Kaspersky research showed that people are aiming to hold themselves to higher standards on online behaviour this year to ensure their online health and privacy by making resolutions such as use stronger passwords and reduce cyber stress levels for the first time.
Digital resolutions are about making yourself promises to protect your digital privacy in 2020. The survey conducted revealed there are many areas people wish to improve upon – as to reduce your screen time, which 29.1% of respondents decided to start doing in the coming year or not to fall asleep with your smartphone next to your pillow, which 18.3% of users chose to do. This shows that digital detox is still on a rise. A quarter of respondents chose to do more backups and clean their desktop on a regular basis, and 11.2% want to delete Facebook friends they never met in person. Seems like a more cyber-savvy lifestyle is certainly a 2020 trend.

David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky, gives the following advice on how to change your digital life to the better in 2020: “Our goal at Kaspersky is to protect users from all kinds of online menace to their private life and help people get the most from their digital lives, safe from the fear of online threats. To help consumers in this, and to help make 2020 the safest year online, we encourage people to challenge their friends and loved ones to make digital resolutions to support their online privacy and follow these simple steps to keeping their digital information private:
1. Secure all devices you use for online transactions – banking, shopping, socialising, – by applying patches and internet security in time.
2. Use a unique, complex password for all your online accounts.
3. Review your privacy and security settings carefully and limit what can be seen and shared.
4. Disable apps and features unless you’re using them.
5. Disable tracking services and location services, and clear cookies regularly.
6. Check your email against services such as “Have I Been Pwned” to see if any of your digital accounts have been compromised”.

Research methodology

An online survey of 2,000 European adults aged 18+ with nationally representative quotas set for gender, age and region conducted by independent market research agency, Arlington Research, in December 2019.