Norton Finds Out The Cost of Cyber Crime Which 113 Million Indians Paid Rs 16,000 Each on Average

Cyber related crimes play havoc with an average internet user; not only it induces financial loss, but it also triggers emotional loss. Norton Security, which is part of Symantec Corporation, has come out with a report which calculates the actual cost of cyber crime in India.

As per the report, Rs 16,000 is the average price of cyber crime, which 113 million Internet users from India paid. This is significantly lower than the global average of Rs 23,878, which an average Internet user paid.

The report becomes interesting, after Norton revealed that 48% of all overall Indian internet population has become a victim of cyber crime, one way or the other. This makes 113 million victims of cyber related crime in India. At a time when India is poised to overtake US in total number of Internet users, this is indeed alarming.

Norton India Country Manager Ritesh Chopra said, “Our findings reveal that consumer reservations are indeed grounded in reality. In the past year, 48 per cent of India’s online population or approximately 113 million Indians were affected by online crimes.”

This study, which was conducted across 17 countries, and covered 17,125 devices used by 18+ Internet users, revealed that 40% of all cyber crime victims were not even aware that they have been duped.

Emotional Cost of Cyber Crime

Besides the monetary loss, Norton also derived the emotional cost of being a victim of such cyber crime. Considering that data is irreplaceable, and some personal data such as images, videos, emails from near and dear ones are indeed precious, such cyber crimes can wreak havoc with the victim’s emotional state.

Ritesh further said, “Cyber crime takes a true emotional toll… Close to 8 in 10 said they would feel devastated if their personal financial information is compromised while 36 per cent said they felt sad after being affected by online crimes compared with 19 per cent globally,”

On an average, an Internet user in India will spend close to 29.6 hours dealing with the impact of cyber crime, as compared to 21 hours globally.

Interesting Highlights

• 54% of Indians believed that their credit card details can be stolen via cyber crime as opposed to actual stealing from wallet
• 60% of Indians are actually worried about cyber related crime
• 52% of Indians have been duped online (credit card details stolen or information leaked)
• 66% of Indians said that using a public restroom is safer than using a public WiFi
• 80% of Indians who can share their cars with friends, will not share their email passwords
• 64% of Indians believe that not wearing a seat belt while driving is less riskier than storing credit card details on a cloud

You can access the press release of the report titled: ‘Norton CyberSecurity Insights Report’ here.