Cyber Crime Costs £71 Billion per Year
Earlier this year a report revealed that cyber security was the biggest threat currently faced by businesses, with the likes of IMF, Google, Sony, Citygroup and Lockheed Martin all suffering from cyber security issues this year.
A new report by security company Norton has put a price on these cyber hacks - a whopping £71 billion per year.
Over half of the UK population fell victim to cyber crime in that time, with 19 being hit every minute, the survey found.
Norton determined the £71 billion figure by taking the number of victims over the past 12 months for each country and multiplying it by the average financial cost of cyber crime per nation.
Last month, HP revealed that the average cost of cyber crime to companies rose 56% over the past 12 months.
Adam Palmer, lead cyber security advisor at Norton, talked up the need for greater education on the impact of cyber crime amongst the general public.
"The reason why Norton conducts global research like the Norton Cyber Crime Report is to raise awareness and spread the word on cyber crime. It's real crime with real victims, and by its very nature cyber crime often exists under the radar," Palmer said.
"With these campaigns and free online tools like NortonCyberCrimeIndex.com, we are offering people a visual and tangible impression of the threats online and how these criminal tactics can affect them."
He also suggested greater awareness could be boosted at the grass-roots level.
"There is an argument to be made that as young people learn about IT in schools, their curriculum should include lessons in online safety," Palmer added.
"We don't want people to be afraid of using the latest technologies, but we also want the online community to be informed and aware of the potential dangers."
Follow Technorati