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Researchers at the University of Kent have conducted a survey and the results are that Cybercrime has hit more than 9 million adults in... Cybercrime Affects 9 Million UK Adults

Researchers at the University of Kent have conducted a survey and the results are that Cybercrime has hit more than 9 million adults in the United Kingdom in the last year.  The researchers were able to ascertain some monetary statistics also.  More than 8 per cent of the UK population lost money to cyber criminals in the last year and 2.3 per cent lost more than £10,000, the Guardian reports.

Cybercrime Affects 9 Million UK Adults

 

 

But it was not just money the crooks were after as 18.3 per cent of those questioned had experienced attempted break-ins for one or more of their online accounts, these attempted robberies included social media, email, banking and gaming.  Interestingly a third of these had suffered repeated attempts.  According to the study, older people were least likely to be victims as only 11.4 per cent of those aged 55-64 were successfully targeted. Whether that’s because silver surfers are more security-conscious or that they share less information online nobody knows as yet.

In comparison, a massive 27.3 per cent of 18-24 year-olds have had their accounts compromised.  Most of these hacks, though, had no financial repercussions, with 92 per cent of the 1,500 respondents saying that they had lost no money whatsoever.  3.2 per cent were caught out for between £1 and £100, 2.4 per cent between £101 and £10,000, and 2.3 per cent more than £10,000. This last figure was “quite shocking” to the researchers at the university.  “It seems online crime has a clear impact on the lives of average UK citizens, with their accounts and credentials being compromised significantly and in some cases multiple times…Cybercrime may not yet have hit a large proportion of the British public, but successful attacks do tend to lead to substantive financial damage.”  The University of Kent’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Cyber Security Research said in a recent statement.

[Image via yakuto.deviantart]

SOURCE: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/9m-brits-were-the-victim-of-cybercrime-in-the-last-year-50012076/