UPDATED 05:20 EDT / FEBRUARY 05 2013

We Know All About Your Love Life. It’s In the Cloud

Yesterday morning McAfee released its “Love, Relationships and Technology” report, a compilation of results from a survey that examined the file sharing habits of American couples.

According to the study, 35 percent of Americans plan to send racy photos to their partner via email, text, or social media on Valentine’s Day. What McAfee found more notable is that 95 percent of the respondents said that they believe their data is safe with their partners, in spite the wide media coverage of celebrity hacks in recent years. Nearly 65 percent of smartphone owners have intimate information on their phones, but only 40 percent have password protection, and only a third of the respondents back up their data.

“We’re all aware of the cases involving celebrities, but you don’t have to be a celebrity to have your personal information exposed,” said Michelle Dennedy, an online security expert for McAfee. “Sharing passwords with your partner might seem harmless, but it often puts you at risk for a ‘revenge of the ex’ situation, landing private information in a public platform for all to see. Everyone needs to be aware of the risks and take the steps to make sure their personal data is safe and secure.”

It’s a Mexican Stand-off!

.

McAfee says that one in ten Americans has been threatened by an ex-partner to reveal their romantic photos, and 12 percent of adults had their personal data leaked without permission. Bank account numbers and health insurance IDs are published in more than 60 percent of the cases, while passwords, email accounts and social security numbers passwords are compromised in about half the incidents.

The security firm’s previous cyber threat report came out in December, just in time for Black Friday.  At the time, McAfee said that only 38 percent of mobile users protect their devices with a password.  Between holiday shopping and sexting, now’s a good time to rethink your mobile activity.  See here for more tips on keeping your data, naked pictures included, safe in the cloud.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU