A study by security software maker Norton of 7,000 Web Users across 14 countries including India, reveals that 65 percent of Internet users globally, and 76 percent of Indian web surfers have fallen victim to cybercrimes, including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft, making India one of the most victimized nations, second only to China.
Entitled “The Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact” the study highlights the personal toll cybercrime takes. It shows that victims’ strongest reactions are feeling angry (58 percent), cheated (51 percent) and annoyed/upset (46 percent), and in many cases, they blame themselves (88 percent) for being attacked. Only 8 percent of Indians don’t think it will happen to them, and nearly 6 in 10 do not expect cybercriminals to be brought to justice— resulting in an ironic reluctance to take action and a sense of helplessness.
Despite the emotional burden, the universal threat, and incidents of cybercrime, people still aren’t ready to change - with only three in five (59 percent) of adults in India saying they would change their behaviour if they became a victim. Only 37 percent reported the crime to the police.
Maybe, the reason is, the frustration of trying to solve cybercrime: According to the report, it takes an average of 44 days to resolve a cybercrime in India, and the average cost to resolve that crime is Rs 5,262. The biggest hassle respondents in India faced when dealing with cybercrime was the general feeling of stress, anger or embarrassment (20 percent) followed by the loss of irreplaceable data or items of sentimental value (19 percent).
Says Adam Palmer, Norton lead cyber security advisor. “Cybercriminals purposely steal small amounts to remain undetected, but all of these add up. If you fail to report a loss, you may actually be helping the criminal stay under the radar.”
“People resist protecting themselves and their computers because they think it’s too complicated,” says Anne Collier, co-director of ConnectSafely.org and editor of NetFamilyNews.org, who collaborated with Norton on the study. “But everyone can take simple steps, such as having up-to-date, comprehensive security software in place. In the case of online crime, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.”
As its own offering in the fight against cybercrime, Symantec, parent company of the Norton product range released the 2011 editions of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security 2011.
Speaking at the launch event in Bangalore, September 14, David Hall, Symantec’s Regional Consumer Product Marketing Manager, said NIS was the only suite to achieve a 100 percent protection score in a new third-party test from Dennis Labs which recently had its real world security testing methodology reviewed by the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) and received a 100 percent compliance. The 2011 products were the fastest and lightest security products on the market in the fight against cybercrime, he added
Norton Offers Free Tools Norton is also offering some free tool to consumers, even if they do not buy any of their products:
Norton Power Eraser, that is designed to aggressively target and eliminate fake antivirus or “scareware” applications. http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/overview.asp?lcid=1033
Norton Safe Web Lite, a downloadable toolbar that identifies risky sites before users click on them in search results. http://safeweb.norton.com/lite
Facebook users can protect themselves with Norton Safe Web for Facebook, which scans current Facebook news feeds to see if they contain links that are unsafe http://www.facebook.com/connect/uiserver.php?app_id=310877173418&next=http://apps.facebook.com/nortonsafeweb/&display=page&locale=en_US&return_session=0&fbconnect=0&canvas=1&legacy_return=1&method=permissions.request and
Norton Online Family – which helps keep kids stay safe online while encouraging open communication with their parents about their online activities. https://onlinefamily.norton.com/familysafety/loginStart.fs
Pricing, Availability and Compatibility Norton Internet Security 2011 ( Rs2535 for 3 PCs and Rs1220 for one PC one year) and Norton AntiVirus 2011(Rs2090 for 3 PCs and Rs999 for one PC one year) are available in India through retailers and the Norton online store at www.norton.com. Norton 2011 products support Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit) Home/Professional/Tablet PC/Media Center with Service Pack 2 or later, Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) both for Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate editions.
Link to the Norton Cybercrime Report:
http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=cybercrime_report
Link to India-specific data: http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/home_homeoffice/media/pdf/cybercrime_report/Norton_India-DataSheet_A4_Aug19.pdf
Sep 15 2010