Cybercrime victims in Singapore suffered highest losses per capita in world

Victims of cybercrime in Singapore suffered the highest losses per capita worldwide in the past 12 months, according to the 2013 Norton Report released Tuesday. -- ST POSED PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
Victims of cybercrime in Singapore suffered the highest losses per capita worldwide in the past 12 months, according to the 2013 Norton Report released Tuesday. -- ST POSED PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

Victims of cybercrime in Singapore suffered the highest losses per capita worldwide in the past 12 months, according to the 2013 Norton Report released Tuesday.

The annual cybercrime report found that the average direct cost per victim here was US$1,158 (S$1,448) - the highest country average of the 24 nations surveyed and four times the global average of US$287. It is also almost double that of last year's average cost per victim in Singapore which stood at US$657.

Another figure that has gone up is the combined direct financial losses in Singapore, which grew from an estimated US $944 million the year before to US$1 billion, on par with the total from the United Kingdom as a whole.

The results, gathered from a survey of more than 13,000 people globally, depict a growing cybercrime problem, with the total global direct cost of cybercrime up from $110 billion in 2012 to US$113 billion this year. Symantec, the American global computer security software corporation which released the report, attributed their findings to poor mobile security - nearly one-in-two don't take basic precautions such as using passwords, having security software or backing up files on their mobile device.

On the up side, the rate of cybercrime hits in Singapore appears to have dropped, with 37 per cent of online adults hit by attacked this year, a dip from 48 per cent in 2012.

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