Bangalore: India's figure of mobile subscription is soon to touch an incredible 900-million mark. But with that comes a shocking rider. Cyber criminals have now moved over from phishing to smishing - sending SMSes to you as an attempt to hack your smartphone security.
A survey conducted by a leading global software security firm reveals that one million people in the world are victims of cyber crime everyday. India is next only to China and South Africa among the most affected countries.
The findings say that 80 per cent of Indian adults have been direct or indirect victims of cyber crime; the victims mostly are men between 18 and 31 years of age; and 43 per cent Internet users do not have up to date security software.
Experts point out that the level of awareness about the threats in the cyber space is much lower in India. Most cases do not get reported. And hardly any of those reported cases, gets solved. One of the reasons: Indian laws against cyber crime are not as up to date.
"We do work with law enforcement agencies all around the world. There are different levels of law enforcement and education on cyber crime elsewhere," said David Hall, from Asia Pacific Sales.
Bangalore has the highest number of virus-infected computers in the country, according to the report. Delhi is the most vulnerable to this form of crime.
While most of us don't mind spending for a smartphone, buying the latest available software security is given a miss. Experts say, simple things like changing your password often, having different passwords for different accounts, shopping preferably at an 'https' instead of an 'http' location online, and securing privacy in social networking sites are small ways to log cyber criminals out. While banking online, remember to use the virtual keyboard that is much safer.
A survey conducted by a leading global software security firm reveals that one million people in the world are victims of cyber crime everyday. India is next only to China and South Africa among the most affected countries.
The findings say that 80 per cent of Indian adults have been direct or indirect victims of cyber crime; the victims mostly are men between 18 and 31 years of age; and 43 per cent Internet users do not have up to date security software.
Experts point out that the level of awareness about the threats in the cyber space is much lower in India. Most cases do not get reported. And hardly any of those reported cases, gets solved. One of the reasons: Indian laws against cyber crime are not as up to date.
"We do work with law enforcement agencies all around the world. There are different levels of law enforcement and education on cyber crime elsewhere," said David Hall, from Asia Pacific Sales.
Bangalore has the highest number of virus-infected computers in the country, according to the report. Delhi is the most vulnerable to this form of crime.
While most of us don't mind spending for a smartphone, buying the latest available software security is given a miss. Experts say, simple things like changing your password often, having different passwords for different accounts, shopping preferably at an 'https' instead of an 'http' location online, and securing privacy in social networking sites are small ways to log cyber criminals out. While banking online, remember to use the virtual keyboard that is much safer.
No comments:
Post a Comment