Kaspersky Survey Reveals a Gender Gap in Buying and Maintaining Smart Devices |

A survey conducted by Kaspersky has revealed a gender gap regarding those typically in charge of maintaining and buying smart devices at home. Seventy-two percent of men said they are the ones who set up smart devices in their home, while just under half (47%) of women said the same.

According to Statista, the number of homes with active smart home devices is expected to amount to 573.7 million users by 2026. Household penetration is expected to hit 25.0 percent by that year.

Kaspersky’s survey results reflect that men are the ones who take care of their families’ smart devices more often. This is also the case when the Wi-Fi settings need changing on the home router or new devices are added to the network. Most men (75%) say they usually do this, while only 50 percent of women carry out this task.

The situation is almost the same when it comes to installing software and apps on computers – 72 percent of men say they are responsible for this, compared to 47 percent of women.

The trend changes regarding kids’ digital habits. The data showed men and women are somewhat closer together in their control their children’s time on devices. Sixty-seven percent of men and 54 percent of women said they monitor the time kids spend on gadgets.

“Smart home devices and solutions can significantly improve and facilitate people’s daily tasks,” said Marina Titova, vice president, consumer product marketing at Kaspersky. “Each family decides for itself which version of the distribution of roles is most convenient for them. At the same time, the key point is that modern smart devices and security solutions must be accessible to everyone, regardless of sex and age.”

To keep all smart devices secure and protected, Kaspersky experts compiled the following tips:

Buying second-hand smart home devices is not a safe practice. Their firmware could have been modified by previous owners to give a remote attacker full control over users’ smart home ecosystems.
It is also important to change the default password. Use a strict and complex one and update it regularly.
Keep your network secure by keeping serial numbers, IP addresses and other sensitive information private. Don’t share users’ smart devices on social networks.
A reliable security solution is very helpful in securing and protecting the entire smart home ecosystem.
Having decided on a particular app or device, be sure to stay in the loop about updates and the discovery of vulnerabilities. Install all updates released by the developers in a timely fashion.

Kaspersky commissioned Arlington Research to undertake quantitative online research with 21,645 smart home device owners in 21 countries, from the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Russia, Turkey, France, Netherlands, Portugal, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Peru, South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The full report is available here.

Learn more at usa.kaspersky.com.

Image licensed by pixabay.com

State of Open Source Report Survey Provided by OSI and OpenLogic