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13.02.2020 2 NEWS NEARLY a tenth of Maltese Internet users have been asked for payment to get back control of their device at least once in the past three years compared to just 1% of respondents in all EU member states. Half of the Maltese victims of this cyber crime reported being asked for such illicit pay- ments more than once. is emerges from a Euro- barometer survey, which also shows a higher rate of virus and malaware exposure amongst the Maltese. While only 16% of respondents in all EU 28 mem- ber states had discovered mali- cious software on their device the percentage raises to 28% in Malta. Ransomware is a type of mal- ware that demands money with menaces: by taking control of your PC, demanding payments to get it back. Immediately disconnecting your PC from the Internet, reformatting the hard drive, and reinstalling everything from a backup can defeat most ranswomware. e problem can be resolved by clicking the "Restore factory settings" option. 36 % of Maltese respond- ents have received fraudulent emails or phone calls asking them for their personal details. 16 % experienced this kind of fraud more than three times in as many years. 8% have also reported be- ing victims of online banking fraud compared to just 2% of respondents in all EU member states. 7% of Maltese respondents in the survey have reported a cy- ber crime to the police, accord- ing to the European wide sur- vey. e same survey shows that 4% of respondents in all EU member states did likewise. e survey also shows that 45% of Maltese internet us- ers have installed anti virus software compared to 42% of respondents in all member states. 42% of the Maltese only use their own computer com- pared to only 32% of all Euro- pean respondents. Profile of online users e survey shows that Malta has one of the highest percent- ages of people not connected to the Internet. Greece and Malta (both 8%), Portugal (7%) and Bulgaria (6%) are the only countries where more than one in twenty say they do not use the Inter- net. A further 17% of the Mal- tese do not use the internet, 3% do so often or sometimes and 72% do so on a daily basis. e most avid Internet users in Europe are the Dutch, 96% of which use Internet on a daily basis. On the opposite end only 61% of Romanians use the In- ternet daily. e survey also shows a 7-point increase in the per- centage of Maltese who ac- cess the Internet with a smart phone over 2018. e percent- age of Maltese who access the Internet through their phone has now reached 85%. e per- centage of those who access the Internet through their person- al computer has decreased by 3 points, from 75% in 2018 to 72% now. 49% access the Inter- net from their tablet, 18% from their TV and 8% from their game console. e survey shows that the Maltese are more likely to use the internet to assess social networks and instant messag- ing than other Europeans but are less likely to use it for bank- ing services or for ecommerce. 8% of Maltese internet users have been infected by ransomware IN 2019, GreenPak Cooperative Society diverted more than 9.7 million glass bottles, from land- fills into waste recycling. is reflects a 50% increase over 2018 e highest percentage increase of glass recovery, amounting to 80% ,was registered from door to door collection followed by a 26% increase in collections from the smart iBiNs spread across 42 localities served by GreenPak around Malta and Gozo. e Gzira-Sliema-St Ju- lians-Paceville seafront route, a pilot project offering a free of charge glass collection service to catering establishments, also registered an increase of 36.54% over 2018. GreenPak's CEO Ing Mario Schembri, said: "We are con- stantly working with the Local Councils and commercial outlets to achieve higher amount of glass waste for recycling, year on year. "Our revolutionary iBiNs dedi- cated to the separated collection of glass, paper, plastic and met- al, are regularly emptied as these iBiNs are technologically able to identify in real time when full. anks to this new technology, our collection service is more frequent and efficient and at the same time more user friendly." Using the iBiNs web app, ibins. mt, and selecting the colour-cod- ed image of the iBiN, the user is directed via a Google Map in- terface to go to the nearest iBiN that has sufficient empty space to take the recycling material. ese iBiNs in the locality offer residents the option to dispose of their recycled material anytime they want. GreenPak Cooperative Society runs the largest waste recovery system in Malta. It operates the monthly service of its door-to- door glass collection from house- holds and commercial outlets on the first Friday of the month. In Gozo, the same glass collection service is operated every first ursday of the month. More information on Green- Pak's services and campaigns can be obtained from www.green- pak.com.mt or by calling on 2166 0233. GreenPak diverted 9.7m glass bottles from landfills GreenPak's glass bottle collection along the seafront route during the holiday season

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