Seven million Canadians were victims of cybercrime in the past year: report

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It seems like hardly a week goes by without a warning about some new kind of scam going around.

A new report suggests a whopping seven million Canadians fell victim to cybercrime in the past year.

Stefano Tiranardi with Symantec says on average, we lose about half a day each year, dealing with the fallout from online crime.

He says explains one scam in particular is stressing us out: crypto-ransomware.

“As a user, you either get tricked or somehow malware gets delivered to your device. It ends up encrypting the content of your device and you get a nice little ransom note. So, either you pay up the ransom or you lose access to the information contained in the device.”

Tiranardi adds people are paying the ransoms. “If they weren’t being paid, then the hackers would have moved on to their next scheme. It’s only popular because it’s profitable.”

Dealing with the consequences of stolen identity is also stressful.

Tiranardi says we may be creating solid passwords on our PCs and laptops, but we aren’t doing the same for our tablets and smartphones.

“What they thought was high risk and activities they would have stayed away from with with the larger format device, they’re much more succeptible to those types of attacks on the smaller devices,” he tells us.

“Eighty-one per cent of respondents admitted that they would feel devastated if their personal financial information was compromised. At the same time, a third of those individuals are sharing banking passwords.

He adds one in four Canadians still do not have a password on any of their laptops, smartphones or PCs.

One more thing: 70 per cent of Canadians would rather cancel dinner plans with a best friend than have to cancel their debit/credit card.

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