Cybercrime Feared 3 Times More Than Physical Crime

Cybercrime Feared 3 Times More Than Physical Crime

Recent poll data, indicating that data breaches and identity thievery are
changing consumer behavior, have been confirmed by a report released
Wednesday by IBM

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News Jan. 25, 2006

Three times more Americans think they'll be hit by computer crime in the
next year than real-world wrongdoing of the old-fashioned kind, a survey
released Wednesday by IBM said.

The anticipation of cyber exploitation -- everything from viruses to
identity scams -- is substantially higher than the actual results of the
last 12 months, when six percent reported being victimized by cybercrime
and seven percent said they'd been hit by a physical crime.

According to the poll of 700 U.S. adults, this angst is changing a host of
online behaviors.

Seventy percent of those surveyed, for instance, said that they only shop
at Internet sites that display a security protection seal or icon, while 64
percent claimed that they don't conduct e-transactions on a shared
computer.

Half said they don't use open public wireless networks, like those at
coffee shops and airports, and 38 percent won't bank online.

In fact, the IBM survey noted that substantial numbers of Americans have
gone even further in turning their backs on the online world because of
security worries.

Twenty-seven percent said they've stopped buying goods online from
unfamiliar e-retailers, 18 percent noted that they'd stopping paying bills
online, and 16 percent -- or one in six -- said they've stopped playing
online games because of crime anxiety.

People are taking drastic steps like these, said the survey, because a
majority -- 53 percent -- hold themselves responsible for protecting
themselves from cyber crime.

"As awareness of these new threats emerges, it's key that consumers,
business, and government agencies work together to help alleviate public
worry about cybercrimes," said Stuart McIrvine, director of IBM's security
strategy, in a statement.

IBM's survey results are in sync with a number of other recent polls, all
of which have concluded that data breaches, worm attacks, and identity
thievery are changing consumer behavior. A Consumer Reports survey in
October 2005, for example, said that one in four had stopped buying things
online and one in three had cut on back e-purchases over identity theft
worries.
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