'Half of China's Net users hacked in past year'
BEIJING: Half of China's Internet users have been affected by hackers in the past year alone, according to a survey cited by the state media on Monday, with most of the country's online population knowing little about computer security.
The study showed an "alarming level of carelessness and ignorance about security among online users", the China Daily newspaper said.
Almost half of those asked in the survey never changed their passwords for e-mail accounts, the China Internet Network Information Centre found.
"It is urgent to improve the awareness of Chinese netizens," the newspaper quoted the group's report as saying. The English-language daily did not specify what sort of hacking was involved.
Internet users in the country are mainly young and often relatively poor, the survey also found. Almost 70 per cent of users are under 30, with 60 per cent earning less than 1,500 yuan ($181) a month.
Many of China's estimated 26.5 million Internet users log on either as students or in thousands of cyber cafes across the country.
Ren Xiao'ai of the survey organisers said that while it was important that young people were attracted to the Internet, content providers should also offer sites appealing to older generations, the China Daily added.
