Cybercrime is the new drug for criminals

20 September 2011

A shocking report on cybercrime has revealed the cost ($388bn) to be greater than the combined effect on the global economy of trafficking in marijuana, heroin and cocaine ($288bn).

The Norton Cybercrime Report surveyed 20,000 people in 24 countries and discovered that the total financial costs of cyberattacks across the world came in at $114bn – with a whopping $274bn used in the aftermath for clearing up the mess from cybercrime.  As a result, computer forensics is becoming more and more important in the modern world.

The report claims that every second, 14 adults become the victim of some sort of cybercrime. This adds up to over a million victims every day. Young men that go online via their mobiles are the most likely victims. 74% of people are aware of cybercrime. But more worryingly, 41% of them do not keep their security software up-to-date and 61% don’t do the highly recommended practice of regularly changing passwords.

Unsurprisingly the main cybercrime issues in the report are malware and viruses, which 54% of people have experienced. 11% were various online scams and 10% was phishing that had caught them out. People are also continuing to be a bit slack with security on mobile phones (which is a threat that is surely going to increase in the future?), as according to the study, 10% have been unfortunate enough to have had a cyber attack of some sort on their mobile device.

This report makes interesting reading and goes further to demonstrate the dangers of surfing the internet without following basic safety advice;

  • Have up-to-date anti-virus software installed on any computer or mobile that you use for internet browsing.
  • Do not click on links in emails or posted on social media unless absolutely certain that they are going to a safe website.
  • Change your passwords regularly and use a mixture of letters, numbers, and special characters.

However, it is safe to say that victims of cybercrime certainly won’t become addicted!

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