Your online behaviour is proving dear!

113 million Indians losing upto Rs 17, 000 due to cybercrime

Norton by Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) released its India findings from the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, which sheds light on the truths of online crime and the personal effect it has on consumers. The report reveals that 60 per cent of people worry about experiencing cybercrime.

Interestingly, 54 per cent of Indians believe it’s more likely their credit card information will be stolen online than from their wallet and one in two (52 per cent) Indians have either personally experienced credit card fraud or know someone who has.

66 per cent consumers believe using public Wi-Fi is riskier than using a public restroom. 80 per cent say that it is riskier to share their email password with a friend than their car for a day. “Our findings reveal that consumer reservations are indeed grounded in reality. In the past year, 48 per cent of India’s online population or approximately 113 million Indians were affected by online crime,” said Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, India, Norton by Symantec.

“Despite the threat of cybercrime in India, it hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures to safeguard information online, with almost one in four Indians sharing passwords as a common practice,” he said.

Millennial Indians reckless in their online behaviour

Millennials, born in the digital era, often throw caution to wind with 31 per cent admitting to sharing passwords and other risky online behaviour.

“Even though Millennials have been immersed in online technology most of their lives, they are more reckless in many ways with only one in four believing they have most responsibility when an online crime occurs,” said Chopra.

Although, Millennials believe they aren’t “interesting enough” to be a target of online crime, four in 10 have experienced one or more forms of cybercime; with every second Millennial (54 per cent) experiencing it in the last 12 months alone.

At 32 per cent, twice as many Indians (driven mostly by Millennials) report personally having their mobile device stolen compared to the global average of 15 per cent.

Despite the concern and awareness towards cybercrime, only one in three Indians is in complete control of their online security. Consumers are overconfident of their online security behaviours. When asked to grade their security practices, they consistently award themselves a solid “A”.

But in reality, most are not passing the most basic requirement of online security: password use.

Of those using passwords, less than half (41 per cent) always use a secure password – a combination of at least eight letters, numbers and symbols. Worryingly, over one in three do not have a password on their smartphone or desktop.

Of those sharing passwords, more than one in three shares the password to their banking account, email (60 per cent) and social media (54 per cent).