cyber_crime1_LHl15_3868CYBERSPACE – A National Research Center State of the Net survey reports in the June issue of Consumer Reports that 1 in 5 online consumers have been victimized by cyber-criminals over the last two years.

While the report notes that the crime rate has held steady over the five years the study has been conducted, it also found that “the number of U.S. phishing attacks has increased significantly since last year, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group”

The report puts the dollar amount attributable to these loses at about $8 billion, mostly due to scams associated with viruses, phishing and spyware, and estimated that 1.2 million consumers have replaced their computers since 2007 because of software infections and an estimated 3.7 million households with high-speed Internet access failed to incorporate a firewall to protect against infections.

Consistent with last year’s findings, 1 in 3 respondents said they had experienced heavy levels of spam and 1 in 7 have had serious problems with viruses. The three major online threats to consumers are, as follows:

  • Phishing or sending authentic-looking but fraudulent e-mail designed to steal sensitive personal information is a continuing concern. Consumer Reports estimates that about 7 million consumers gave phishers personal information over the past two years; that’s 1 in 13 online households.  Among scam victims, 1 in 7 lost money in the past two years, comparable with data from the last survey. Total damage to U.S. consumers through phishing attacks works out to about $483 million.
  • Spyware:Consumer Reports found 545,000 households had to replace computers in the past six months and one in 12 people had serious problems with spyware.
  • Online identity theft: Consumer Reports estimates 1.7 million households were victims of ID theft committed over the Internet in the past year, of those two-thirds said the incident occurred because of an online purchase.

The report also concludes that free security software programs now available to consumers equal or surpass their pay competitors.

“Through testing, Consumer Reports found that free programs available to protect against viruses, badware, and unwanted spam were on par with the best pay suites tested,” said a press release. “Of the seven free programs Consumer Reports tested this year, the top three no-cost performers from last year performed the best again: Avira AntiVir Antivirus Personal, Microsoft Windows Defender and Spamfighter Standard. What’s more, each was better than their former version.”