Consumers are more scared of cyberattacks than real-world financial theft

Photo credit: AFP Relaxnews

Washington: The latest Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, published Monday, shows that nearly two thirds of consumers globally are more worried about an online attack leading to the loss of credit card and banking information than they are of being robbed in the street.

"Consumer confidence was rocked in 2014 by an unprecedented number of mega breaches that exposed the identities of millions of people who were simply making routine purchases from well-known retailers," said Fran Rosch, executive vice president, Norton by Symantec.

Across the 17 countries polled for the study, 47% revealed they'd been affected by cybercrime and that on average, dealing with the aftermath took 21 hours and cost $358.

Yet despite these concerns, Norton found very lax security practices. For example, just one third of Americans have a password for protecting their computer or smartphone.

"The threat of cybercrime hasn't led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures people should take to safeguard their devices and information online," said Rosch.