Cyber crime victims lose $358 on average: survey

Cyber crimes now cost victims an average of $358, according to a new report released Monday.

Security firm Symantec surveyed over 17,000 people across 17 countries to get a sense of the shifting feelings about digital theft.

{mosads}Roughly 47 percent of those surveyed said they had been hit by cyber crime. These victims reported that, in addition to losing money, they are spending an average of 21 hours dealing with the fallout.

There is also growing fear of cyber crime. Four in five people worry they will be affected by cyber crime, representing a drastic shift in global attitudes about nefarious online activity.

Symantec said the concerns were likely driven by the rash of high-profile data breaches that have plagued the U.S. private sector in recent years. Companies like Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase and Target have all been hit.

“Consumer confidence was rocked in 2014 by an unprecedented number of mega breaches that exposed the identities of millions of people who were simply making routine purchases from well-known retailers,” said Fran Rosch, executive vice president at Norton, a digital antivirus product that Symantec makes.

But while people are scared of hackers, they haven’t taken many steps to reduce the risk of getting data stolen.

Less than half of the respondents using passwords were creating secure codes. A good portion were also sharing passwords with friends and family members, according to the survey.

“Our findings demonstrate the headlines rattled people’s trust in mobile and online activity, but the threat of cyber crime hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures people should take to safeguard their devices and information online,” Rosch said.