It’s not exactly brain surgery, is it?

A new study conducted by the anti-virus software giant, Symantec revealed new statistics in the UAE:
•    76% of residents have been the victims of Cybercrime.
•    Two citizens are affected by cybercrime every minute.
•    Less than 25% of incidents are reported to the police.
•    53% of people don’t have up-to-date antivirus software packages.
•    20% of all cybercrime takes place in the mobile domain.
•    Only 8% of mobile devices have any kind of protection.
•    It takes on average 2 weeks to fix the damage from a cyber-attack.
•    The total cost to the UAE economy from cyber attacks over the course of one year was $611.3 million. Only $209 million of that figure was stolen cash with the rest being money spent to fix the damage.

The main hypothesis for the increase in attacks in the region is due to a lack of education and awareness about cybercrime in general. Also, the UAE’s use of the internet is growing exponentially, but the safety measures and precautions are simply not keeping pace; the techniques used by cybercriminals include phishing, viruses and basic online scams. The biggest inconvenience with a cybercrime attack is the time required to resolve the issue according to reports from victims.

Symantec recommends internet users in the UAE take responsibility into their own hands and use precautions such as installing antivirus software and having secure passwords and pin numbers. It’s up to each individual to create their own safe experience on the web by being diligent and leaving nothing to chance. « What’s clear is that the more risky one’s participation on the internet, the more likely one is to become a victim of cybercrime. Downloading torrents, visiting nefarious forums and using peer-to-peer applications are just some of the activities to avoid… » >> Such recommendations are not exactly rocket-science, but data collected on attacks and user behaviours could be useful.

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