Almost one in five people (18.4%) in the UK have had their online accounts hacked, with some (2.3%) losing more than £10,000 due to criminal activity.
These are some of the main findings of a Survey on Cyber Security by members of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Cyber Security.
Other findings include the revelation that over 6% of people have had their accounts compromised on more than one occasion and that survey respondents aged 55-64 were the least likely age group to be successfully targeted by online crime, with some 90% confirming that they had not been victims of security breaches to their online accounts.
This, according to the researchers, could be attributed to this age group spending less time online, having fewer activities and accounts or, more generally, being more cautious and security aware when online.
The Survey, which set out to explore the extent to which Britons have been affected by cybercrime, also revealed that despite the majority of respondents not being significantly affected by online crime, those who had been suffered considerable losses.
The Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security encompasses researchers from the Sciences and Social Sciences faculties, and is led by the School of Computing.
The Survey on Cyber Security can be viewed at http://www.cyber.kent.ac.uk/Survey1.pdf
For more information contact Katie Newton.