Net threats cost US $8.5 billion in two years

Study measures scale of scamming and other web worries.

US consumer watchdog body Consumer Reports have released their annual 'State of the Net' study, finding a noticeable decline in malware and spam issues, but still significant amounts of money lost to malware and phishing, estimated at $8.5 billion over a two-year period.

The survey covered over 2,000 online households, and found one in six of the group surveyed had been a 'cybervictim' during the period covered. 1 in 13 households admitted handing over sensitive data in response to email scammers, and an estimated 2.1 million computers were replaced due to malware fears.

Among other findings, SMS spam sent to cellphones has become more of an irritant to consumers, while the biggest vector for sensitive data loss was found to be the government, responsible for leaking 44 million individual consumer records.

The full report is only available to Consumer Reports' subscribers, but a summary of the findings is here and further commentary is at Information Week here.

05 August 2008

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1 comment

For that much "supposedly lost cash", all the compnaies should come together and stand up a legit site that everyone can go to, and get free antivirus/malware/spyware scans and then WHEN clean, they are allowed to proceed to the site.

I think Corporate America is too tightly wound around the MONEY...MONEY MONEY axle and should be MORE concerned with a truely secure environment.... you enter a pre-portal...your workstation is scanned, cleaned, and then properly challenged to prove your identity...like IP that is connected IS in same locale the person is...LOL. geesh its not all that hard. make changes.... people will have to follow, or go elsewhere. How much cash would you save then? LOTS.

by Major Tom BETA, 29 August 2008, 13:59

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