According to a survey conducted by Norton by Symantec, in the UAE, 42% of Millennials have experienced online crime in the past 12 months, compared to 39% of Generation X.
On top of the costs and time involved to recover from cybercrime, the findings also highlighted the emotional strain cybercrime can have on consumers. More consumers in the UAE (63%) would find the consequences of identity theft stressful than those who find preparing for a presentation at work stressful (44%).
The survey showed that more than half of all UAE consumers reported that an account password had been compromised. Of those who have experienced ransomware, one-third stated that they had experienced ransomware in the last six months.
Of the consumers affected, 67% paid the fee and 30% indicated that even after paying the fee, they did not obtain access to their digital assets.
Despite concern about online crime becoming widespread, consumers are overconfident in their online security behaviours. Nearly one in four consumers uses devices that have not been protected (22%) and three in four do not have security software installed on their smartphone (77%). 73% of UAE consumers feel the chance of experiencing online crime is significant enough to worry about.
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