One in five UK citizens have had online accounts hacked
Youngest computer-users also reported higher levels of hacking
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Approximately 1 in 5 UK citizens have had their online accounts hacked including “email, social network, banking, and online gaming”. A new survey by the University of Kent’s Cyber Security centre found that 18.3 per cent of respondents had suffered from this sort of cybercrime.
The survey also found that individuals in the 55-64 age bracket were least likely to have had an online account hacked, though researchers note that this can be interpreted in various ways: “either they are more cautious online, or spend less time, have fewer activities and accounts, or perhaps keep an overall better security.”
18-24-year-olds were most likely to have had accounts breached with more than a quarter (27.3 per cent) of respondents reporting that their accounts had been hacked. As with the low-rate of breaches in the older age range this can be seen in different lights, though perhaps reflects a casual approach to online security stemming from familiarity with technology.
It was also found that financial losses in these hacks were minimal, with 83.1 per cent reporting loosing no money “due to online or computer-based fraud in the last 2 years”. A small but significant proportion (11.6 per cent) lost more than £65, averaging to an approximate £1.50 loss per citizen over two years.
When the question was expanded to include money lost “due to any kind of computer criminal activity” 92 per cent of individuals reported losing no money at all, suggesting perhaps confusion over the differences between “computer-based fraud” and “computer criminal activity”. A small percentage of respondents (2.3 per cent) even reported losing “more than £10,000” through fraud.
The researchers concluded that “online crime has a clear impact on the lives of average UK citizens, with their accounts and credentials being compromised significantly and in some cases multiple times.”
“This and other incidents online translate into financial losses that, despite not affecting large numbers of people, have quite a large impact on the few (around 3% of the population) that are very badly hit.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments