More than 10% of AW readers have already fallen victim to cybercrime

As Androidworld, we regularly conduct surveys by asking questions to our readers. This allows us to see what is going on in society and how people think and deal with certain things.

victim

During this year’s AW Advent calendar, we asked many questions about security and privacy. One of the questions was whether our readers had fallen victim to ransomware, phishing, or any other harm.

More than 1,600 people answered this question and the result was rather disturbing. More than 11% indicated that they had fallen victim to cybercrime as described above. You can call this result worrying, when you consider that visitors to a website with a technology theme are a bit more aware of the dangers on the Internet.

national average

The Dutch Central Statistical Office keeps a lot of figures about Dutch society, including crime. the Figures from CBS It turns out that traditional crimes such as theft of goods and vandalism have decreased for a number of years.

In the graph above, we see that traditional crimes like theft have seen a fairly significant decline since 2013. The decline has been planned to some extent in recent years. We can also compare this to a graph in which we can see the trajectory of cybercrime.

In this graph, we see a noticeable increase in the number of cybercrime cases in recent years. Figures for 2019 indicate that 13% of the population aged 15 and over were victims of cybercrime. Figures from 2020 onwards are unfortunately not available.

In 2019, many people aged 15 or over were exposed to traditional crimes such as cybercrime. This indicates that the criminal association has clearly switched to the modern form of income. Not surprisingly, there is less risk of getting caught and the loot can be much higher than the street price of a regular stolen bike.

What can i do about it?

Thus, the chance of becoming a victim of online crime increases. And just like your bike, you should also lock your devices online. The first, simplest and most important point is your password. It is very important that you change this regularly and definitely not use the same password for your services. In addition, the two-step verification that you can enable in almost all services is of great importance. This ensures that when you log into a service, you always confirm this action with a second action. This means that anyone who manages to get your password will not be able to access your account.

You can also use a password manager. This keeps your passwords in a safe place and can also auto-fill them for you. This service can also help you create a secure password. Here you can read all about it Password managers.

Secure your networks

Criminals not only enter via emails and other messages, but they can also enter via an unsecured connection. It is not without risk to use Wi-Fi in public places without having to be logged into it. It is also important to secure your network at home. It starts quite simply by setting a password for your WiFi connection. In addition, you can create a separate login for guests.

We are also using more and more smart home devices. In addition to the fact that you also have to set your own password and two-step verification there, it is also wise to give all your smart lights and the like from WiFi. We got this tip during the podcast The Smart Ones by Dave Maasland, episode Which is definitely worth listening to.