NEW DELHI: Mysterious Facebook updates against your name even when you are not logged in; an email from your friend when he actually hasn't sent it; your friends chatting with "you" when you are actually asleep; strangers winning your confidence and tricking you into parting with money; strangers making purchases with your credit card or stealing money from your bank account.... the list of mischief on the internet is endless.
With more devices and people online now than ever before, cybercrime too has grown. A Norton survey puts the number of Indians falling prey to cybercrime last year at 29.9 million. And the cost: $4 billion in direct losses and an additional $3.6 billion in time spent resolving the crime.
Globally, the figure is 431 million people, and the cost $388 billion , which is more than the black market in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined, according to the Norton Cybercrime Report 2011 released in Bangalore last week. Gaurav Kanwal, country sales manager for India and Saarc, Symantec, says mobile phones have become the new turf for the criminals with 17% of Indians online experiencing cybercrime on their mobile phone.
The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report says there has been 42% more mobile vulnerabilities in 2010 compared to the previous year. Paradoxically, while many people realised they were more vulnerable to crime online than offline, few took precautions online. "Most parents tell children not to talk to strangers or to be back home by a particular time.
But very few parents put such restrictions on their children's online lives," says Kanwal. Fortyone per cent adults said they didn't have an up-to-date security software , only 47% reviewed their credit card statements for any fraudulent transactions, and as many as 61% don't use complex passwords or change them regularly. Among mobile phone users only 16% had installed upto-date security software.
Norton also released its Internet Security and Antivirus 2012 suites. One of the new features is Norton Management, a web-based functionality that lets users manage all their Norton products across all devices from anywhere in the world. Users can remotely even check on the health of their devices or fix issues without needing to be there in person.
Another feature is Identity Safe that protects personal and financial information fromcybercriminals and keeps users safe from fraudulent websites. There is a simplified login interface, with a feature to store passwords in the cloud. This means users can access websites safely from any computer that has Norton Internet Security 2012 installed.
Cybercrime in India
A) Among respondents surveyed...
80% were victims to online crime
59% access internet on their mobile phones
17% experienced crime on mobile phones
32% think they can't live without the internet
47% feel they will lose contact with friends without social networking sites
43% don't have up-to-date security software
B) Average time taken to resolve a cybercrime last year: 15 days
C) The cost
Money stolen/ cost of resolving cybercrime: Rs 17,850 crore
Victims' value of time lost to cybercrime: Rs 16,260 crore
Total cost of cybercrime: Rs 34,110 crore
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