The scourge of cyber crime: One fifth of Brits have had their e-mail, social network or bank accounts hacked - and some have lost more than £10,000

Around one in five Britons have had their online accounts hacked, researchers said yesterday.
Around one in 43 (2.3 per cent) had lost more than £10,000 at the hands of online crooks, while around 6 per cent have had their accounts, including email, social network, banking and online gaming, compromised more than once.
‘Cyber crime may not yet have hit a large proportion of the British public, but successful attacks do tend to lead to substantive financial damage,’ said Dr Eerke Boiten, director of the University of Kent’s Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Cyber Security.

Hackers have successfully targeted one in five Brits, according to new research (file picture)

After polling 1,500 people, researchers at the centre found that those aged 55 to 64 were least likely to be successfully targeted by online criminals.
This may be because they are more cautious or spend less time online, have fewer activities and accounts, or maintain better security, researchers said.

The survey is the first of its kind to be conducted by the university’s Centre for Cyber Security, and will become a periodic study.
Dr Julio Hernandez-Castro said: 'These up-to-date survey results on how cybercrime is affecting British citizens will undermine some misconceptions and make it easier to understand where to best focus our research efforts for designing new solutions to combat cybercrime.'

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