67 per cent Indians find no harm in delaying software updates: Report

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While cyber crimes are on the rise, 67 per cent of Indian users think there is no harm in delaying software update, giving hackers ample time to break into their devices and steal their data, a new report warned on Friday.

Once the users receive update notifications on their devices, 41 per cent usually postpone the installation of updates. The most popular reason is because users are busy at work (32 per cent), followed by options where users do not want to stop using their device at that moment (22 per cent) and almost a quarter (24 per cent) do not want to close the application.

All in all, 67 per cent of Indian users see no harm in such delay, according to cyber security firm Kaspersky.

"While it is quite understandable that people would not like to get their flow of work interrupted by a software update, it is also necessary to understand the importance of regularly updating their software. A regular system or software update is as good as an immunity boost given is to a human body," said Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia).

The updates not only offer new features to your device, but also help in improving system or device security, fix software bugs, remove outdated features, update drivers and identify and correct vulnerabilities in the software by overall improving the functioning of the software, he added.

According to the study commissioned by Kaspersky in April, installing updates is considered a routine boring task and half of respondents commonly snooze them.

At the same time however, three-in-10 (30 per cent) Indian respondents admit that the time spent waiting for updates to take place can be used productively and they are making this a reality in their day-to-day lives.

Generally, users mostly prefer to shift to other activities while updates are installed.

For example, when their devices are unavailable, 25 per cent of respondents try to switch off and relax (watch TV or read a book), 11 per cent distract themselves by cooking, and 14 per cent prefer sports or going for a walk.

"It makes complete sense to switch to another device while the gadget you were using originally is going through an update cycle. Playing sports, cooking, or a little meditation could be a timely break from the working day, helping people to relax and reboot," commented Maria Namestnikova, Head of GReAT Russia, Kaspersky.

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