Most men believe that they know more about online security than women, but new research suggests that both sexes are equally vulnerable to malware and other threats.

The poll of 1,400 UK adults found that men are likely to be more confident about their levels of online protection, and only four per cent are unaware of what protection they have.

However, both sexes showed the same levels of vulnerability to online crime.

"My gut feeling, because I'm a man, is that it is one of those societal gender things," said Larry Bridwell, global security strategist at AVG which commissioned the study.

"Men feel that they are more in control of what they do. It's like map reading. In fact the risk is equal among the sexes."

The survey also found that one in three internet users had been a victim of either financial or data loss online, but not even one in five would change their online habits as a result.

Bridwell claimed that this does not indicate that people are not worried about security, but that they are unable to do anything about the situation.

"It would be comical if it wasn't sad," he said. "Users are locked in. In my case I fly between 100,000 and 200,000 miles a year, so I have to pay for things online. If I didn't I'd have a horrible credit rating and no power at home."

The survey was carried out to promote AVG's new security software, which has antivirus and anti-spyware capabilities combined. The software is free for personal use, but backed up by the company's commercial software arm.

"To be honest it's free for two reasons. First, giving away free security software that works is a great branding tool," said Bridwell.

"Secondly, it's got to be done. There's a huge pool of unprotected internet users out there spreading malware all over the place, and that hurts everyone."