Nearly half of employed people have fallen victim to cyberattacks or fraud

A new global survey found that nearly half of respondents have fallen victim to a cyberattack or fraud.

In a survey of 20,000 working adults from around the world, 45% reported that their personal data, such as bank account information or email, has been compromised by a hacking or fraud attempt.

In fact, almost half admitted to being reactive to cyber threats, rather than proactively protecting against them, in their personal lives (45%) and at work (44%).

And according to respondents, online scams and phishing attempts have become more sophisticated (72%) and successful (66%) due to artificial intelligence.

With Cyber ​​Security Awareness Month in October, Yubico commissioned the global survey, with respondents from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan, Poland, Singapore, France, Germany and Sweden, to investigate the global impact of cyber security. both personally and in the corporate sphere.

Half of respondents (50%) revealed that they have been exposed to a cyber attack at work in the last year. Of those, not even a quarter (23%) said the company they work for responded by requiring ongoing cybersecurity training.

For those whose personal data was hacked, 20% reported that a cyber attacker successfully hacked one or more of their personal accounts, including bank or email accounts.

Revealing the layered side effects of successful hacks and scams, 22% lost money as a result and 30% said they doubted their personal information will ever be safe again.

And for the 50% of respondents whose personal passwords were exposed by a hack or data breach, the most common passwords compromised were those securing social media accounts (44%).

So why are these hacking attempts so successful?

The research found that 39% believe that simply using a username and password is the safest way to protect accounts and information.

In fact, it is the most used form of account protection by respondents.

“While passwords have been the primary method for accessing accounts and securing information, they are inherently insecure,” said Derek Hanson, vice president of standards and alliances at Yubico. “People tend to reuse passwords across multiple accounts and use weak passwords, which allows hackers to breach multiple accounts with a single login. Along with this, people are often tricked into sharing their passwords due to the sophistication of today’s phishing attacks. Using a username and password to protect accounts and information is the least secure form of data protection.”

Despite this, for those reporting cyberattacks at work, the most common way to “re-secure” information was to simply implement username and password resets for company accounts (30%).

And 20% found that the company they work for updates their technology and security policies only on an “as needed” basis.

Given the lack of up-to-date cybersecurity protocols at work, alarmingly, respondents reported that the measures put in place to protect information at work are stronger than those protecting their personal information (70% vs. 63%) .

In light of this, it’s no surprise that for respondents worldwide, having their personal accounts hacked (24%) is the number one cybersecurity fear keeping them up at night.

“According to the findings, people think their data is safe. However, the survey results prove otherwise,” Hanson said. “And even worse, many have been successfully hacked and scammed across various platforms. Almost half of those hacked had their social media accounts compromised. And while that’s significant in itself, it’s especially concerning given that social media accounts often contain sensitive data, such as credit card information and communications with friends and family. We encourage everyone, both companies and individuals, to re-examine their data protection and adopt more secure measures such as multi-factor authentication whenever possible.”

COMMON PERSONAL WORDS COMPROMISED

Social media account password – 44%

Password of a payment application – 24%

Online Retailer Account Password – 21%

A messaging app password – 17%

Banking application password – 13%

Video streaming service password – 12%

Insurance account password – 7%

Medical Patient Portal Password – 6%

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 working adults from each of the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan, Poland, Singapore, France, Germany and Sweden; the survey was commissioned by Yubico and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between July 22 and August 12, 2024.