At least 2 million internet users in Hong Kong were hit by cybercrime in a 12-month period, survey says
The city’s cybercrime rate in the 12 months ending September 2017 was higher than Japan and Singapore’s, with victims losing US$28 on average and spending 19 hours to deal with the consequences
Over two million Hongkongers are thought to have been affected by cybercrime in the 12 months ending last September, losing US$28 (HK$220) on average and spending 19 hours dealing with the consequences, cybersecurity company Symantec said.
Symantec deduced this from its poll of 1,015 adults in the city last October, where 43 per cent declared they had been victims of online crimes – including identity theft, credit card fraud or having their account password compromised.
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It then applied the rate of 43 per cent to the population of about 5.6 million adult internet users in the city.
Symantec’s director of its Asia consumer business, Chee Choon Hong, said members of Generation Y – those born between the early 1980s and late 1990s – were the “most internet savvy and most security lax”.