BENGALURU: There are at least 15 ransomware attacks per hour in the country and one in three Indians fall prey to it.
Among these, more than 80 per cent have been victims of cyber crime in the past year alone, showing a rise in such incidents in the country. Interestingly, the most common victims of cyber crime were the millennials.
The Norton Cyber Security Insights Report 2016, conducted by Norton Symantec shows that Indians are among those who are most vulnerable to cyber crimes with at least half the population of the survey being unaware about whether their Wi-Fi was secure or not.
Releasing the report on Thursday in Bengaluru, Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, Norton by Symantec attributed it to the complacency of the average Internet user. “Cyber crime isn’t going away and consumers shed complacency to adequately protect themselves. By adopting a few basic behaviours, we can make big strides in mitigating cyber crime risk.”
A look into the Internet behaviour patterns showed negligence on part of users: One in five customers have at least one unprotected device which poses a threat of phishing attacks and ransomware and at least 23 per cent believed installing security measures on their systems would slow it down.
Further, one in four people use public Wi-Fi connection at airports and coffee shops regularly. Several people also confided (22 per cent) that they used neighbour’s Wi-Fi without their permission.
“Backing up important data is the single most effective way of combating ransomware infection. Accessing personal information on unprotected public Wi-Fi is like broadcasting your entire screen on TV - everything you do on a website or through an app, could potentially be exposed. Avoid anything that involves sharing your personal information like paying a bill online and logging in to social media accounts,” Chopra added.