Research Shows That Online Security is a “Top Challenge” for Canadians

By: Ali Raza  |   November 5th, 2012   |   Living, News, O Canada, Social Media

We know that cybercrime is escalating quite swiftly around the world, but the proportion of its victims in Canada is relatively alarming. According to the Cybercrime 2012 research report from Norton, nearly 70 percent of adult internet users on Canadian soil have become a victim of this felony at some stage in their life.

 

The report also states that the average cost to each victim is more than $160, which means that internet users in Canada lose $1.4 billion each year thanks to cybercrime. This huge figure depicts that there may be no safe zone for internet users in Canada, as 37 percent of social network users became cybercrime prey, whereas 16 percent suffered mobile or social cybercrime.

 

Due to this increasing rate of cybercrime, internet users in Canada are now more concerned about their online security, says Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). This bare truth came out when Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) initiated an Internet Forum in Canada.

 

CEO of CIRA, Bryan Holland said that, “It comes as no surprise that Canadians identified security as a top challenge. As the Internet becomes more integral to our social and economic landscape, it is inevitable that there will be greater volumes of criminal activity to exploit that.”

 

It should be known that Canadians are by no means sitting idle, however there is little denying that the majority of internet users in the country do not know how to deal with such crimes. This can be judged from the fact that about 21 percent of the users do not recognize the dangers cybercrime present and therefore remain unaware of online protection.

 

Along the same lines, 34 percent of the users have no idea that malware can work surreptitiously behind the curtain, whereas one-third either do not change their passwords regularly or use strong secret words for sensitive applications and websites.

 

Source: Tech Vibes