Hyderabad: Cyber crime recovery abysmally low

Hyderabad: After the survey of more than 10,000 adults in 10 countries, including 1,000 adults in India, the Norton Cyber Safety Insights reported that 59 per cent of Indian adults have experienced cybercrime in the past 12 months. On one hand cyber crimes are escalating everyday and on the other hand recovery rate remains low. In Hyderabad as well, the number of cases is on peak while the recovery remains 7 per cent. Meanwhile, the Cybercrime victims collectively spent 1.3 billion hours to resolve their issues but they hardly got successful.

Explaining the Cybercrime status in Hyderabad, a highly-placed official from the Central Crime Station said, "The cybercrime cases are increasing everyday and there is a need of massive campaigning and awareness among the public. In the year 2020, around 2,300 cybercrime cases were reported but this year's first quarter itself has reported around 700 cases which are estimated to go around 3,400 cases." He also urged people to attain knowledge on cybercrimes and protect themselves.

Meanwhile, the cyber cell of the city is organising several awareness programmes, apart from educating people through a crime-free India YouTube channel. The officials further said, "We have less recovery rate as people have less knowledge about cyber crime. Most of the victims do not even know how the crime has happened when they report the issues."

"Lockdown and restrictions have not deterred cybercriminals. More Indian adults fell victim to identity theft in the past 12 months, especially about data privacy," said Ritesh Chopra, Director Sales and Field Marketing, India & SAARC Countries, NortonLifeLock. "While the report suggests that 90 per cent Indian consumers are taking proactive steps to safeguard their data, while 2 in 5 still feel it is impossible to protect their privacy (42 per cent) in this age or say they don't know how to do so. It is therefore crucial for consumers to seek expert advice and take active measures to safeguard their online privacy," he added.

The sixth annual Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report was conducted virtually in partnership with The Harris Poll. As per the survey conducted on more than 10,000 adults in 10 countries including 1,000 adults in India, 36 per cent of Indian adults who detected unauthorized access to an account or device in the past 12 months, around 49 per cent of them felt angry or stressed.

Furthermore, around 2 in 5 felt scared (42 per cent) or vulnerable (38 per cent), and 3 in 10 (30 per cent) felt powerless. Despite this, only 36 per cent purchased security software or increased pre-existing security software as a result of detecting unauthorized access to their account or device. While 52 per cent turned to their friends for help, 47 cent contacted the company that the account was hacked from for help resolving the issue.

As many as 75 per cent Indian adults are concerned about data privacy. In fact, 76 per cent are proactively looking for better ways to protect their privacy and 9 in 10 (90 per cent) have taken steps to protect their online activities and personal information, nearly 74 per cent that is three-quarters say that they have done so due to changes in lifestyles and work environment since the pandemic began. 43 percent people have made passwords stronger and 36 per cent social media users are limiting information shared on social media to avoid any trouble.