Students at highest risk from cyber-crime

Posted on 20 Apr 2009 at 18:10

Know-it-all students are putting themselves at increased risk online. Young people in full-time education are more susceptible to cyber-crime than others, despite considering themselves to be internet-savvy. This group is dismissive when faced with the risks posed by online crime and complacent when evaluating the importance of basic security tools.

According to GetSafeOnline.org, students are almost twice as confident online as other internet users, with more than half of them considering themselves to be very internet literate. One in 10 consider there to be "no risk" online and almost a third do not consider security software as an important measure.

However, their attitude puts them most at risk online. They are more inclined to enter personal details into a website from an unsecured computer than ordinary users. They also post valuable personal information, such as their date of birth or home address, on social networking sites. They do this almost twice as often as everyone else.

Meanwhile, retired internet users are the most vigilant. 70 per cent claim to have never taken any of the common behavioural risks online, such as opening or forwarding attachments from an unknown source.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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