The Norton report, one of the world’s largest consumer cybercrime studies, bases its findings on the self-reported experiences of more than 13,000 adults across 24 countries.
It aims to lift understanding of how cybercrime affects consumers, and how the adoption and evolution of new technologies impacts people’s security.
In the past 12 months, an estimated 556 million adults across the world experienced cybercrime, more than the entire population of the European Union.
This figure represents 46 percent (39 percent in New Zealand) of online adults who have been victims of cybercrime in the past 12 months.
Around 16 percent of social network users in New Zealand have been victims of social cybercrime.
• 13 percent of New Zealand social network users reported someone had hacked into their profile and pretended to be them.
• 1 in 10 New Zealand social network users said they’d fallen victim to scam or fake link on social network platforms.
• While 75 percent believe that cybercriminals are setting their sights on social networks, only third (36 percent) actually use security solution which protects them from social network threats and only 49 percent use the privacy settings to control what information they share, and with whom.
• Almost 1 in 5 New Zealand mobile users received text message from someone they didn’t know requesting that they click on an embedded link or dial an unknown number to retrieve “voicemail”.
More information from: www.norton.com/2012cybercrimereport.
