A third of Brit surfers don't update security

British web users are particularly bad when it comes to updating their security software, according to research.

One third of Brits never update their security software, compared to five per cent of Germans, seven per cent of French, and five per cent from Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg).

Nine per cent of Brits also don't use any security protection when surfing the web, which is higher than the four per cent in Germany, five per cent in France, and one per cent in the Benelux region.

The PC Tools survey also revealed that men are worse than women when it comes to password protection. Nearly half (47 per cent) of men use the same password to access all sites, compared to around a quarter (26 per cent) of women.

Michael Green, vice president of product strategy for PC Tools, said that although the results showed that users were generally "security conscious", they were not yet "security savvy".

He said in a statement: "As cybercriminals adopt more sophisticated methods to trick users into downloading malicious files or clicking on malicious links, consumers need to be aware that even the most technical are at risk of infection."

He added: "Risks can vary from high-profile attacks like the Koobface virus to downloads of movies that haven't been released, videos or links that appear to be sent from friends, or false and malicious URLs posted on Twitter, for example."