Men are more at risk than women on social networks

Men are more likely to fall into deception and theft of data on social networks like Facebook and Twitter than women, according to research by security firm BitDefender .

Male users are more likely than women to accept friend requests from strangers, sharing your location, ignoring privacy settings, leave your accounts for all to see and avoid reading the privacy policies on social networks , according to a survey conducted by Bitdefender 1649 men and women in the UK and the U.S.

This behavior may increase the risk of attacks from spammers , data thieves and other fraudsters private, and increase the likelihood of being sent to a link that redirects to an infected site. However, all respondents said they had installed antivirus on their computers, which shows a real awareness of computer security problems.

The study found that 64.2% of women always reject friend requests from strangers , compared to only 55.4% of men. About 24.5% of men leave their accounts in visible social networks compared to 16% of women, and 25.6% of men share their location, as 21.8% of women.

On the other hand, American men are at higher risk than their English counterparts and, in general, are becoming more cautious with age, according to the age division conducting the study.

"Men are more exposed to the risks that women, especially when accepting friend requests from strangers," said George Petr e, a security researcher of Bitdefender social networks. "On a positive note, the study reveals that only one quarter of users share their location, which shows that it is an important fact for them. However, most social networking applications, especially mobile, are designed to provide this information by default, which can lead to embarrassment or really dangerous. "