Survey shows that most Slovak residents ignore cybersecurity threats

According to the latest survey, the majority of residents behave more riskily online than in 2024. Significant gaps persist in practical cybersecurity habits, awareness of threats, and the protection of children in the online environment.

As many as 66% of respondents use the same password for multiple accounts, and the level of parental control continues to decline.

The findings show that most respondents rely only on basic forms of protection and have only superficial knowledge of the threats present in the digital environment.

The public opinion survey was conducted by the SCIO agency for the Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre (KCCKB) in October 2025 on a sample of 1,000 respondents.

“New technologies are becoming a natural part of our everyday lives. However, the rapid pace of their adoption must be matched by the development of basic security habits. While we adapt to new technologies quickly, building proper cybersecurity awareness requires systematic education, time, and accessible tools. It is therefore crucial to understand how people use technology, what risks they perceive, and how they approach their own protection in the digital space. This is why we prepared a new survey mapping the state of digital literacy and security habits in Slovakia. Building a secure digital future is a shared responsibility of companies, institutions, and individuals alike,” said Marek Zeman, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre.

Lack of parental control tools and unconscious use of AI

Digital devices are widely present in Slovak households. According to the survey, 85.7% of respondents own a smartphone. Similarly, 71.8% use laptops, 45.9% own a tablet, and 60.3% reported using smart TVs.

A concerning finding is the low adoption of parental control tools. Fewer than one third of respondents living in households with children confirmed that they use parental control tools. Parental protection of children in the online environment has even declined year-on-year. While in 2024, 30.7% of parents reported using parental control tools, in 2025 this share dropped to 29%. It remains true that the higher the parents’ digital skills, the more they apply controls over their children’s online activities.

When asked about device sharing within families, as many as 16.8% of respondents stated that they share their work laptop with their partner or children.

40% of people do not verify information from social media or do so only occasionally. Almost half of respondents do not verify, or only sometimes verify, information received from acquaintances via electronic communication or shared on social networks.

Although the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing, most users interact with AI-enabled systems unconsciously. In the survey, 47.6% of respondents stated that they do not use AI. Respondents often fail to distinguish between technologies containing AI elements and ordinary applications.

“Since the survey was conducted using the CAWI method and therefore among respondents with access to technology, it can be assumed that the overall results in several areas could be even more critical. On the other hand, we excluded a small sample of citizens working, among others, in the IT sector, which partially balanced this limitation,” explained Martin Klus, Chief Analyst at SCIO.

Digital skills and awareness of key concepts

The digital skills of the population remain mostly at a basic level, and only a small share of respondents are familiar with advanced data protection methods.

Only a small portion of respondents (less than 10%) possess advanced knowledge such as encryption, secure data transmission, or programming. The survey further shows that digital skills are closely correlated with age: younger respondents are naturally more proficient with technology and apply security practices more often. Older population groups remain more vulnerable and less adaptable.

Almost half of respondents do not install timely software and security updates on their devices, and 66% use the same passwords for all accounts. More than half of respondents still do not adopt other basic security measures such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) (60%), and more than 65% do not implement any data backup measures.

More than half of respondents (57%) do not know the term “ransomware.” Awareness of the term “phishing” declined year-on-year from 22% to 21%.

Despite several large-scale ransomware attacks affecting Slovak organizations during 2025, the public continues to underestimate the risks posed by cybersecurity threats and the importance of secure behavior in the digital environment.

The need for systematic awareness-building in this area is also emphasized by cybersecurity professionals:

“Our ambition is to strengthen public awareness and provide tools that help increase the security of every user,” added Marek Zeman, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre.

Background 

The Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre holds the status of the National Coordination Centre in the Slovak Republic. Each year, it prepares a series of educational activities and projects aimed at strengthening awareness of cybersecurity protection. An important part of these activities is the cybersecurity survey, which provides not only a current snapshot of the situation in organizations, but also enables comparison with previous years and monitoring of developments over time.

Its tasks also include identifying and addressing professional challenges across individual sectors and supporting the cybersecurity community. NCC-SK is part of the European network of National Coordination Centres (NCC).