Indian cybercrime victims continue to take risks online: Report

Nearly a third of cybercrime victims in India fail to learn from their experience and continue with their unsafe ways online, despite having concerns about their network security, according to the Norton Cyber Security Insights Report 2016. According to the study, Indian consumers remained complacent about cyber-security and protecting their personal data online despite the growing threat.

Norton Cyber Security Insights Report 2016 considered 1,028 Indian internet users, aged 18 years and above. According to 79 per cent of the respondents, they were aware of the importance of protecting their information online, yet 20 per cent of them had one or more unprotected device.

As regards being lax about cyber-security, 29 per cent said they could deal with issues as they arose, while 36 per cent felt they refrained from doing anything ''risky'' on the internet. According to 23 per cent of those surveyed, cyber-security measures slowed them down, and a similar number (24 per cent) did not see the need to protect their gadgets.

According to 64 per cent of the respondents from India, they used secure passwords on every account, but a quarter of them readily admitted that they could share them with others as well. The study found that Indian users shared passwords for their laptops (64 per cent), smartphones (63 per cent), email accounts (49 per cent), social media accounts (42 per cent), banking accounts (30 per cent), and connected home devices (27 per cent).

''Our findings show that people are increasingly growing aware of the need to protect their personal information online, but are not motivated to take adequate precautions to stay safe,'' Ritesh Chopra, country manager of Norton by Symantec, said in a statement.

''While consumers remain complacent, hackers are refining their skills and adapting their scams to further take advantage of people, making the need for consumers to take some action increasingly important,'' Chopra added.