In an innovative blend of sports and cybersecurity, NordVPN recently orchestrated a captivating event in Times Square featuring the legendary Shaquille O’Neal. This unique collaboration aimed to shed light on the critical importance of online protection in an era where data security is paramount.
NordVPN Pushes Efforts For People To Take More Protections With Shaq
NordVPN’s latest nationally representative survey reveals a striking disconnect between American confidence and actual skills in identifying online fraud:
- Confidence doesn’t equal competence. Nearly half of Americans express high confidence in their ability to identify fake emails, websites, and messages; however, a staggering 74% failed to recognize a “typosquatted” fake URL.
- Up to 82% failed to spot that a CAPTCHA pop-up was fake, and less than half accurately identified a phishing email disguised as a job recruitment message.
- Overconfidence drives risky behavior. A significant 71% believe that common sense alone suffices for online protection, while 51% admit to reusing similar passwords across multiple accounts—a habit most prevalent among the overly confident.
- Antivirus over-reliance. Nearly half of respondents (47%) depend solely on antivirus software for protection against cyber threats.
- Scams are everywhere. Among those surveyed, 73% reported encountering a scam attempt recently. Of these, 13% either lost or nearly lost money, and 6% faced permanent unrecovered losses.
“I’ve always believed that if you’re in a position to help people, you should. That’s how I try to approach everything I do, and it’s why this partnership makes sense for me,” stated Shaquille O’Neal. “You can’t assume something is safe just because it looks familiar. These scammers are getting smarter, and sometimes all it takes is one click or sharing one piece of information. You don’t have to be a cybersecurity expert. You just have to stay alert, make smart choices, and use the right tools to protect yourself. NordVPN helps make that simple.”
“We wanted to make online protection impossible to ignore — and there’s no better way than putting the unstoppable force of nature like Shaq in the middle of Times Square,” remarked Toma Sabaliauskienė, CMO at NordVPN. “But behind the entertainment is a real problem: Americans believe they can outsmart scammers, and the data proves most can’t. Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be intimidating or complicated. With Shaq’s help, we’re showing people that going big on your online protection is simple — and necessary.”
