Australia Tops Global Cyber Crime Impact Survey

Australia has the highest incidence of cyber crime in the world, according to a global survey of nine countries by leading software security vendor, AVG.

The study, which canvassed 1,000 users each in Australia, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Brazil and the Czech Republic, found that over 39 per cent of Australians had been the victim of cyber crime compared to 32 per cent in Italy, 28 per cent of Americans and just 14 per cent in Sweden and Spain.

The most common forms of cyber theft experienced by Australians were:

1. not receiving goods paid for at an online auction (16 per cent);
2. fraudulent emails that resulted in financial damage (14 per cent);
3. phishing (10 per cent);
4. not receiving goods ordered online (eight per cent);
5. credit card fraud (five per cent); and
6. unauthorised bank transfers (three per cent).

Marketing Manager of AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, Lloyd Borrett, said the fact that Australia experienced more cyber crime was a little surprising, although it might have been impacted by the fact that Australians are more active online users than most other nations.

“The study showed that 99.5 per cent of home PCs are connected to the Internet, and that Australians score higher than most when it comes to leveraging the Internet for shopping, banking, paying bills and booking tickets.

“While we don’t know whether Australians are actually targeted more heavily than other countries, these results highlight the importance of comprehensive security solutions to protect users from obvious threats like phishing and email scams, as well as good education to warn people of the danger,” Borrett said.

He welcomed last week’s (Friday 6 June) announcement by the Federal Government of a free Internet service and website designed to alert users to cyber threats, saying the new Stay Smart Online service would help to reinforce existing messages about the need for Internet security.

The AVG survey found that Australians had relatively high awareness of Internet security and demonstrated the second highest level of confidence (70.5 per cent after the USA’s 73.3 per cent) in the protection provided by their software security vendor.

Forty-seven per cent of Australians said they were more likely to experience cyber crime than to experience burglary, assault or robbery.  Thirty-seven cent of all Australians surveyed said that cyber crime was a strong concern, while 53 per cent said it was of slight concern to them.

Gender Issues

The survey suggested that Australian women might be slightly more trusting than their male counterparts when it comes to cyber crime. 

Women experienced a higher incidence of being negatively impacted financially by fraudulent emails, (14.7 per cent compared to 13.7 per cent of men), credit card fraud (6.1 per cent compared to 5.0 per cent) and theft of bank details (3.2 per cent compared to 1.9 per cent).

Men were slightly more affected by phishing (9.9 per cent compared to 8.5 per cent of women) and not receiving goods ordered online via eBay or other vehicles (24.4 per cent compared to 22.5 per cent).

The study also highlighted cultural differences between the different countries, with Australians and Americans more likely to feel angry, violated and upset on experiencing cyber crime, while the strongest reaction in Spain was insecurity.

AVG Performs Well for Channel

When respondents were asked to name popular brands of anti-virus software without being prompted, AVG enjoyed the second highest level of brand recognition.  Australians also demonstrated strong awareness of the need to keep their security software up to date, with 77 per cent listing Notification of Upgrades as their top criteria when choosing a software security vendor, followed by Online Support (73 per cent) and Information emails about what to look out for (66 per cent).

ENDS

About AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd — www.avg.com.au

Based in Melbourne, AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd is the Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific distributor of the AVG range of Anti-Virus and Internet Security products. AVG solutions provide comprehensive real-time protection against everything from viruses, spam, spyware, adware, worms, Trojans, phishing and exploits to cyber-criminals, hackers, scammers and identity thieves. The AVG products, which are active on more than 70 million PCs worldwide, provide outstanding technical solutions and exceptional value for home, small to medium business and enterprise clients. AVG provides always-on, always up-to-date protection across desktops, servers and email in the home plus corporations, government agencies, utilities and educational institutions.

AVG (AU/NZ) has over 1700 resellers across Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific.

For more detailed information please contact:

Lloyd Borrett                AVG (AU/NZ)                                      03 9581 0807

Shuna Boyd                 BoydPR                                             02 9418 8100

Media resources, including logos, box shots, screen shots etc., are available online at: www.avg.com.au/media