Near 1 in 2 faced cybercrime in past yr

(ANSA) - Rome, December 1 - About 45% of Italians have been directly affected by cybercrime in the past year, with young people most at risk, a study by Norton by Symantec showed on Tuesday.
    The research, conducted on 17,000 consumers globally, showed that on average 40% of people in Europe were affected by cybercrime in the same period and 46% around the world.
    The data showed that Italians affected by the computer-based attacks took an average of 13 hours to deal with the consequences of the crimes.
    One in 6 Italians faced "ransomware" attacks, which is a form of digital extortion. About 12% reported identity theft and 13% faced the loss of financial information after trying to buy something online.
    Other problems included compromised passwords, unauthorised access to email accounts and theft of mobile devices. Even though younger people are more likely than older people to be aware of the risks faced online, they were more often victims, the study showed. About 32% of Italians in the "Millennial" generation (born between the early 1980s and early 2000s) said they had faced cybercrime while only 15% of older baby boomers reported incidents.
    According to the research, older people appeared to be more cautious online, using more secure passwords for example and sharing them less often.