Cybercrime Costs UK £1.8bn A Year, Norton Security Report Reveals

Cybercrime Costs UK £1.8bn A Year

What's the true cost of cybercrime? At least £1.8bn a year - in the UK alone - according to a new report.

More than 12m people in the UK alone were affected by online crime, the annual Norton Cybercrime report said.

The study of 13,000 people across 24 countries showed that the global cost of cybercrme, including identity theft, banking fraud and spam, was £69bn.

Every second 18 adults become victims of cybercrime, the report said.

That's an annual total of 556 million people - and each victim is hit by an average cost of £124.

Other interesting stats revealed in the survey included:

15 per cent of social network users said they had been hacked

1 in 10 social network users said they'd fallen victim to a scam on social media

75% believe that cybercriminals are setting their sights on social networks, but only 44% have taken any kind of security precautions

"Cybercriminals are changing their tactics to target fast growing mobile platforms and social networks where consumers are less aware of security risks," says Marian Merritt, an Norton advocate for online safety.

"This mirrors what we saw in this year's Symantec Internet Security Threat Report which reported nearly twice the mobile vulnerabilities in 2011from the year before."

There are some brighter sights - around 60% said they use complex passwords and change them regularly. Which you definitely should, if this report is anything to go by...

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