A new survey reveals that over half of the UK population have been targeted by online criminals with a successful attack costing, on average £247 per person.
The survey of over 3,000 UK consumers, by not-for-profit organisation Get Safe Online, today reveals that almost one in five who suffer an online attack are too embarrassed to tell anyone. The survey also showed that almost one in five have lost money as a result of fraudsters.
The top five most common consequences of an attack are:
1. Having to change all of your online passwords.
2. Wasting valuable time trying to fix the problem.
3. Losing money.
4. Left feeling embarrassed.
5. Replacing bank or credit cards.
According to the survey the top five most common threats in the UK are:
1. Viruses – a file that is written with the sole intention of doing harm, or for criminal activity on. your smartphone, computer, tablet or laptop - is the most common type of threat.
2. Email hackers – almost one five people in the UK have had their email accounts targeted by hackers.
3. Social media hackers – more than one in 10 of us has had a social media account (like Facebook) targeted by hackers.
4. Fraudulent selling – over one in ten people have bought something online that never arrived.
5. Online credit card fraud – one in ten people have had their bank or credit card details stolen online.
In spite of the number of attacks in the UK, the survey uncovered that it hasn’t changed people’s behaviour. Of those who experienced an attack, 65% and 75% of people respectively continued to use their laptops, tablets, and smartphones in the same way.
Despite a fifth of people having their social media accounts hacked, only half of respondents use the highest levels of security on the social networking site Facebook and one in ten are not even aware that you can change your security settings.
Francis Maude, Minister for Cyber Security at the Cabinet Office said: “The Internet provides us with so many opportunities – for education, buying and selling online, communicating with work colleagues, friends and family alike. But unfortunately there are always those who will seek to take advantage of us when we are online going about our everyday business. Get Safe Online’s new research shows that people are still at risk. We all need to take steps to spread advice on how to help prevent this sort of thing happening in the first place. By following some very simple steps and precautions available through getsafeonline.org, we can continue to take advantage of all the benefits the Internet has to offer, safely and securely.”
Get Safe Online Week is your opportunity to pass on online safety tips to friends, family, colleagues and neighbours who you think may benefit from the advice.
Download Get Safe Online’s useful Click & Tell tips to pass on.
For people that want to find out more about being safe online, you will be able to find the Get Safe Online tour bus in Cardiff, London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Belfast on the following days:
Cardiff – Monday 22nd October
London – Tuesday 23rd October
Leeds – Wednesday 24th October
Edinburgh – Thursday 25th October
Belfast – Friday 26th October
