We’re sure when browsing the internet, many of you guys have probably come across an security warning page in your browser, informing you that the page you’re about to visit could install malware onto your computer. It’s a pretty obvious warning and we’re sure no one likes having malware installed, but how many of us actually pay heed to those security pages? Well in a recent study conducted called Alice in Warningland: A Large-Scale Field Study of Browser Security Warning Effectiveness, it has been found that when compared to Mozilla Firefox users, Google Chrome users are more likely to proceed to said website in spite of being warned that it could be dangerous for their computer, and the tables above are an example of some of the numbers they collected.
The study also found that when it comes to early versions of software, like betas, developers release, or nightlies, the numbers were actually a lot higher with Chrome users averaging around 70% in clickthrough rates. It is not clear why Chrome users are so “daring”, but one of the authors in the study believed that false positives are one of the reasons, plus it could also be attributed to differing levels of competence. “Warning fatigue” is also one of the reasons the author attributed to Chrome users ignoring security warnings more than Firefox users, but what do you guys make of this study? Are you a Chrome user who goes ahead and views the website despite having received a warning about potential danger?