Two in five have been victim of cybercrime

Two in five (44%) UK consumers have been subject to cyber crime in their lifetime, one in five (22%) in the last year, according to a new survey.

However two of every five (42%) do not take the time to change their account passwords after a security compromise or break, the study found.%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-crime-stories%

The research indicates that more than 12 million British people have experienced cybercrime in the past year, said the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report.

Over the last year, UK consumers lost more than one working day (nine hours) dealing with the fallout from online crime and nearly £134 per person - totalling an estimated £1.6bn across the nation.

The study of more than 1,000 consumers in the UK found that they see foreign countries and governments as the major culprits of online crime, with UK consumers even more likely than the global average to blame them. Some 45% of UK respondents pointed the finger at foreign governments compared to 35% globally.

One in 10 British people think the primary culprits are smart kids just doing it for the fun of it.

Among those who experienced cybercrime in the past year, more than one in 10 UK victims indicated their identity was stolen. One in seven UK victims had their financial information stolen as a result of shopping online.

Nick Shaw, of Norton Business Unit, said: "We no longer need convincing of the risks. Our findings demonstrate that people's trust in online activity has been rattled, yet there still is not widespread adoption of simple protection measures that people should take to safeguard their information online."

Tony Neate, chief executive of Get Safe Online, said: "What's concerning is that fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated in their attacks, using people's individual data to target victims while hiding behind a cloak of anonymity.

"Our mantra at Get Safe Online is 'don't be a victim'. That means putting the right guidance in place so you know how to protect yourselves and your family against online crime. Things like making sure you never use the same passwords for all of your online accounts, keeping your anti-virus software up-to-date and reporting anything suspicious. By doing this, we can hopefully stop people worrying about online crime, and instead empower them."

:: The Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report is an online survey of 17,125 consumers aged 18 or over, conducted in 17 countries, commissioned by Norton by Symantec and produced by research firm Edelman Berland. The UK sample reflects input from 1,007 UK device users, aged 18 or over. Data was collected from August 25 to September 18.