More than half of Indian adults have experienced cybercrime in the past 12 months, according to a report by Norton Cyber Safety Insights. Cybercrime victims in India collectively spent 1.3 billion hours trying to resolve these issues. More than 27 million Indian adults experienced identity theft in the past 12 months. Seven in 10 Indian adults (70 per cent) also believe that remote work has made it much easier for hackers and cybercriminals to take advantage of them. 52 per cent of Indian adults said that they do not know how to protect themselves from cybercrime. These facts were revealed in the Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report, which conducted an online survey in partnership with The Harris Poll. The survey involved more than 10,000 adults in 10 countries including 1,000 adults in India.
The study further observed that of the 36 percent of Indian adults who detected unauthorized access to an account or device in the past 12 months, half of them felt angry or stressed as a result. Furthermore, around two in five people felt scared or vulnerable and three in 10 felt powerless.
Despite the threats, only 36 per cent had purchased security software or increased pre-existing security software as a result of detecting unauthorised access to their accounts or devices. The survey also pointed out that 52 per cent of people turned to their friends for help and 47 per cent of them contacted the company that the account was hacked from for help resolving the issue.
“In a year of lockdowns and restrictions, cybercriminals have not been deterred. More Indian adults fell victim to identity theft in the past 12 months and most are concerned about data privacy,” remarked Ritesh Chopra, Director Sales and Field Marketing, India & SAARC Countries, NortonLifeLock.
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The study also found that seven in 10 Indian adults believed that remote work had made it much easier for hackers and cybercriminals to take advantage of people. As a result, about two-thirds of the Indians surveyed said they were more worried than ever before of being a victim of a cybercrime. Similarly, 63 per cent of Indian adults reported that they felt more vulnerable to cybercrime than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Despite these vulnerabilities, around half of them felt that they do not know how to protect themselves from cybercrime and even many more said it was difficult for them to determine if the information they see online is from a credible source.
Interestingly, the survey report also pointed out that over two in five Indian consumers had experienced identity theft, with 14 per cent impacted in the past year alone, which means that over 27 million Indian adults experienced identity theft in the past 12 months. Most consumers, whether they have experienced identity theft or not, are worried that their identity will be stolen. The report states that most Indian adults are also concerned about data privacy and want to do more to protect it.
In fact, 76 per cent people surveyed were proactively looking for better ways to protect their privacy and 90 per cent of people had taken steps to protect their online activities and personal information. Some of the most common steps taken by people in India are making their passwords stronger and limiting the information shared on social media.
The research was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of NortonLifeLock among 10,030 adults aged 18 plus in 10 countries. The survey was conducted from February 15-28, 2021 in Australia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
