The risks of cybercrime…

Guest post from Simon Ellson.

With the evolution of technology comes the development of a whole load of other things, including crime. Over the years crime in the virtual world – also known as cybercrime- has increased. Our own, Norton Cybercrime Report shows that cybercrime is a hundred times bigger than the annual expenditure of UNICEF.

What sets cybercrime apart from other crime is that it can happen to anyone, at any time, and often it involves your personal details – the information that you go at lengths to protect – being stolen.

Take Jacquelyn Moulds from Clapham, London. She had over £4000 go missing from her savings account. After contacting the bank she was told that she’d been the victim of a phishing scam; someone had obtained her bank log-in details, logged into her account and set up a new payment – there was no trace of who or where the money had been sent to.

The investigations carried out showed that Jacquelyn’s account details had been stolen whilst she was accessing her account online. When exactly they were stolen was unknown and because Jacquelyn accessed her account from multiple computers, it was difficult to pinpoint the exact time and computer her details were stolen from.

Luckily, Jacquelyn’s bank reimbursed her money, however, this is does not happen in all cases. It’s therefore important to be vigilant: use strong passwords, don’t click on suspicious emails or web links, only make payments on secure websites and of course get your computer or device protected.

Jacquelyn’s story is just one example of cybercrime. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of cybercrime, then get in touch and help us to increase the awareness of the risks of cybercrime.

November 14, 2011 | Filed Under Identity theft, Norton Cybercrime Report, Security, Spam 

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