42 million affected in India during the last 12 months
It is estimated that over 42 million people in India fell victim to
cybercrime in the last 12 months, suffering approximately $8 billion in
direct financial losses.
The findings are part of the Norton Cybercrime Report 2012 based on
experiences of over 13,000 adults across 24 countries globally,
including 1,000 from India. This calculates the direct costs associated
with global consumer cybercrime at $110 billion.
According to the report, 66 per cent of adults in India have been
victims of cybercrime in their lifetime. In the last 12 months, 56 per
cent of adults online in India have experienced cybercrime, translating
to more than 115,000 victims of cybercrime every day, 80 victims a
minute and more than 1 a second. The average direct financial cost per
victim is placed at $192, up 18 per cent over $163 in 2011.
Globally, every second, 18 adults become a victim of cybercrime,
resulting in more than one-and-a-half million cybercrime victims each
day. With losses totalling an average of $197 a victim across the world
in direct financial costs, in the last 12 months, an estimated 556
million or 46 per cent adults across the world experienced cybercrime.
This figure is on par with the findings from 2011 (45 per cent).
Changing Face
This year’s survey shows an increase in “new” forms of cybercrime
compared to last year, such as those found on social networks or mobile
devices — a sign that cyber criminals are starting to focus their
efforts on these increasingly popular platforms, the report said.
In India, one in three adults online (32 per cent) has been a victim of
either social or mobile cybercrime in the last 12 months, and 51 per
cent of social network users have been victims of social cyber crime.
Specifically, 22 per cent of social network users reported someone had
hacked into their profile and pretended to be them. Fifteen per cent of
social network users said they had fallen victim to a scam or fake link
on social network platforms.
While 83 per cent believe that cyber criminals are setting their sights
on social networks, only around half (57 per cent actually use a
security solution which protects them from social network threats. Only
44 per cent use the privacy settings to control what information they
share and with whom.
Nearly half (44 per cent) of mobile users received a text message from
someone they didn’t know requesting that they click on an embedded link
or dial an unknown number to retrieve a “voicemail.”
“Cyber criminals are changing their tactics to target fast growing
mobile platforms and social networks where consumers are less aware of
security risks,” says Effendy Ibrahim, Internet Safety Advocate and
Director, Asia for Norton by Symantec.
“This mirrors what we saw in this year’s Symantec Internet Security
Threat Report 7 which reported nearly twice the mobile vulnerabilities
in 2011from the year before.”
