Consumers Think Cybercrime Now Three Times More Likely Than Physical Crime

Consumers Think Cybercrime Now Three Times More Likely Than Physical Crime

More Americans anticipate falling victim to a cyber attack rather than a physical crime, reports a recent IBM survey of U.S. adults. And, despite the convenience and flexibility that online transactions offer, 37 percent of Americans will not provide credit card information online.

Surveying almost 700 participants that have Internet access at work or home, IBM reveals that, in the next twelve months, more than three times the number of respondents think it is more likely they will be the victim of a cybercrime (ie, attacked through networked devices such as computers, ATMs, mobile phones, PDAs, etc.) than a physical crime.

This comes as those respondents report that over the last 12 months, incidents of these cybercrimes are already on par with physical crime. Six percent of respondents purport to have been the victim of a cybercrime within the past 12 months; while only a handful more report having fallen victim to physical crimes (seven percent). One percent were unsure whether they had been the victim of a cybercrime.

Read the complete Press Release