Once again the indifference shown by the British public to IT security has been demonstrated. Lloyd TSB have found that 54% of PCs and laptops have a computer virus.

The finding is from a survey by Tickbox.net on behalf of the high street bank. 1,400 people were interviewed, of whom 75% who had PCs were worried about the threat of viruses.

When it came to security, a good percentage did have anti-virus software. However 10% had never updated it, and 25% had once or twice.

1% admitted they did not have any anti-virus software at all. 5% did not know if their software had been updated at all.

While we are doing everything we can to make our security watertight, we are also urging all of our customers to think carefully about the measures they have taken to protect their PC. This means regularly updating their anti-virus software and ensuring they have a robust firewall, was the comment from Matthew Timms, Lloyds TSB internet banking director.

General security updates, including those for Windows and other programs are not much better. 40% of respondents have never downloaded any patches.

The information, gives credence to the government's and industry view that home PCs are the weak link in ensuring a safe computing environment.

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