No 1 cyber crimes hotspot

THE county hit by the most cyber crimes has been revealed in a study as Essex.

Six out of every 1,000 people had been victims of offences such as the hacking of internet accounts and online rip-offs.

Essex topped the table, with 9,987 cyber crimes reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau between 2016 and 2017. It was followed by London, Thames Valley, Kent and Herts.

Paul Lyon, of tech firm Ebuyer, which conducted the study, said: “Ensuring security software is up to date, shopping on secure sites and being vigilant to not click on emails you aren’t expecting will help make sure your details are safe.”