More than 55 percent millennials have been hit by cybercrime in India: Norton by Symantec

Over 55 percent of millennials (born between 1980-2000) in India have experienced cybercrime in the past year and globally, millennials are the most commonly affected victims, with 40 percent experiencing it last year, a report revealed on Saturday. According to the ‘Norton Cyber Security Insights’ report by security software firm Norton by Symantec, “39 percent Indian millennials have either experienced ransomware themselves or know someone who has”. “Millennials emerged as the password sharing generation in India with 34 percent of them admitting to sharing passwords of various accounts,” said Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, Norton by Symantec, in a statement. Of those who have experienced ransomware, 80 percent of the millennial victims did so in the past one year alone. Further, 18 percent of millennial victims paid the ransom, yet, did not gain access to their files, the findings showed. When it comes to Wi-Fi usage, 30 percent millennials agreed to have used their neighbour’s Wi-Fi network without their permissions, compared to 22 percent of the overall respondents. While overall, one in four consumers regularly use public Wi-Fi connections available at airports, coffee and shops, this rises to 33 percent among millennials. Putting their cyber security at risk, 60 percent of these millennials are willing to give into actions such as answering a survey question, install a third-party app (43 percent), provide access to files while online (25 percent) and turn off their security software (24 percent) to gain access to free public Wi-Fi. In order to protect your information, Norton recommends these practices – avoid password promiscuity, do not pay the ransom and backup, be in control when online, know the ins and outs of public Wi-Fi networks – to millennials. The Norton report is an online survey of 20,907 device users ages 18+ across 21 markets, commissioned by Norton by Symantec and produced by research firm Edelman Intelligence. IANS