Cyber crime on the rise in SA

2011-09-16 11:00

Johannesburg - Eighty-four percent of adult South Africans who are online have reported that they had experienced cyber crime, according to a newspaper report on Friday.

Norton's cyber crime report added cyber crime was on the rise in SA, The Star newspaper said.

Some 74% of those South Africans who said they were victims of cyber crime had experienced it in the past year.

The increase could be because of advances in cellphone technology and an increase in cellphone users in SA. Sixteen percent of the victims were affected through their phones compared to only 10% globally.

Malware and computer viruses made up the biggest portion of cyber crime in SA. Scams and phishing fraud made up the rest.

The total net cost of cyber crime in SA is R10.9bn (correct, according to the newspaper report), making up 1% of the global net cost of R2.9 trillion.

- SAPA