GETFAX, August 08, 2002  (translated from German)

Internet users want more security
 

Germany's internet users are fed up. First viruses, then Nazis, then porns, now pirate dialers. Hardly a day goes by without new problems in the virtual village. A survey carried out by the internet technology company Nutzwerk showed: If this does not change, users are going to change their provider.

The biggest fear of internet users is of pirate dialers that secretly raid the user's phone accounts via premium-rate service numbers.

This is the result of the survey made by the leading German internet security specialist Nutzwerk GmbH in Leipzig:
- 46 percent of the respondents are afraid of pirate dialers,
- 26 percent feel threatened by viruses.

Currently Nutzwerk is the only one to provide the patented all around internet protection "SaferSurf". After the automatic protection against viruses and unwanted dialers had been available since May 2002, Nutzwerk questioned more than 1000 visitors, testers and customers on its website. One question was what internet users were most afraid of in the internet. Another question checked if users were willing to change their provider if a provider offered automatic protection against viruses and unknowingly installed programs (including dialers) whenever the user accessed the internet. Result:
- The majority of the respondents (59 percent) already had problems with viruses and dialers.
- Most of the access providers will be surprised at the answer to the question: "Would you change your provider if another provider offers SaferSurf automatically?" 91 percent are willing to change their provider, 29 percent immediately and 62 percent after a favorable test of SaferSurf.

Being asked whether SaferSurf would be available to all providers, René Holzer, CEO of Nutzwerk: "Of course we are going to enter into partnerships with all access providers who wish so, in the interest of internet users." Only in July the business hoster NTT/Verio went into a partnership with Nutzwerk. Experts assume that providers will hardly do without an all around protection like SaferSurf in the future.