55% MILLENNIALS IN INDIA VICTIMS OF CYBER CRIME

The millennials, those who were born between 1980 and 2000, are considered digital naive, says a report by Norton Cyber Security Insights.

According to the report, more than 55 per cent of the millennials in India experienced cyber crime. The report said that 39 per cent of the Indian millennials either experienced ransom ware themselves or knew someone who face it. Nearly 18 per cent of millennial victims paid the ransom but did not gain access to their files.

The study pointed out that the main reason behind the vulnerability is lack of caution and the tendency to share the password. It pointed out that they are lax about the password security and can be called the password-sharing generation. During the survey, 34 per cent admitted to sharing passwords. Inspector Mr. Mohammed Riyazuddin, who was associated with the Rachakonda cyber crime unit, said that it is advisable to have different passwords for each account. “In case anyone hacks one, they will be unable to break into other accounts,” he noted.

The millennials are more likely to use public Wi-Fi networks as well as private ones. In the survey, 30 per cent of them agreed to have used their neighbour's Wi-Fi network without permission. While nearly 25 per cent of overall respondents regularly used public Wi-Fi connections at airports, coffee shops, etc., more millennials -- 33 per cent -are prone to this practice.

Mr K. V. M. Prasad, inspector of Hyderabad cyber crime unit, said that people who use public Wi-Fi connections are more vulnerable to hacking. “Identifying the hacker is difficult when multiple people use the same internet connection,” he said. The survey also pointed out that around 23 per cent of the respondents are less sensitive to cyber threats.