Recent research by Ofcom has discovered that the proportion of UK homes without the internet has fallen from 11% to 6% between March 2020 and March 2021.
This is a significant reduction, but it still means that around 1.5 million UK homes are without the internet.
The groups of people who are most likely to not have internet access at home are those over 65, lower income households and people who are financially vulnerable. 60% of those without internet access at home make use of ‘proxy’ users such as family and friends, who undertake online admin and shopping for them, like online shopping and banking.
Whilst this can increase connection between families and friendship groups, and definitely helps those who aren’t able to get online, it’s imperative that cyber security at home and those of proxy users is up to date and that latest patches have been applied. This way, all parties can use the internet with confidence and peace of mind.
We recently shared our top tips for creating strong passwords to help you put cyber security precautions in place.
While the proportion of UK households without the internet at home has dropped over the past year, Ofcom also found that the digital divide has reduced during the pandemic, as people have been going online to escape from the ever present pandemic.
Read Ofcom’s full findings here, and get in touch with us to talk about how we can secure your IT systems and infrastructure.
