40 Percent Of Millennials Were Victims Of Cybercrimes In Past Year, Report Finds
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A recent cybersecurity report reveals that millennials are the most common victims in online scams.
According to the 2016 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report, 40 percent of millennials have experienced cybercrime in the past year.
One of the big problems is millennials sharing their passwords that compromise their online safety. The report found that 35 percent of them were happy to give out their passwords.
"Despite the growing threat and awareness of cybercrime, consumers remain complacent about protecting their personal information," the report reads. "While there are people who understand that cybercrime is an inevitable circumstance of living in a connected world, human nature is still at play when it comes to dealing with cyber security. Even past victims of cybercrime sometimes fall back into old habits."
The report states that 689 million in 21 countries were the victims of cybercrimes within the last year, and since 2015, these victims spent $126 billion worldwide.
To avoid being part of an online scam, the report calls on people to protect their passwords; don't open unsolicited messages or attachments; changing the default password when installing a new network-connected device; entrust your devices to security software; and don't access personal information on unprotected public Wi-Fi.
The report surveyed 20,907 consumers in 21 markets.
