Dubai: More than two million UAE citizens experienced cybercrime in the past year and lost Dh4.9 billion in total, according to a survey conducted by Norton by Symantec.

Although it is often believed that the older generation is perceived as less tech savvy, the report, in fact, shows that Millennials, born in a digital era, are more likely to be affected.

In the UAE, 42 per cent of Millennials have experienced online crime in the past 12 months, compared to 39 per cent of Generation X.

“We no longer need convincing of the risks — cybercrime has unfortunately become a fact of life in the UAE,” said Tamim Taufiq, Middle East Manager for Norton Business Unit.

He said that the UAE consumers lost close to a day-and-a-half (30 hours) dealing with the consequences of online crime and cost an average of Dh2,331 per person.

Taufiq said that the findings demonstrate that the reality of cybercrime still hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple, yet secure protection measures. As the UAE becomes increasingly mobile savvy, this should be reflected in the approach all generations make to safeguarding their personal information and their loved ones.

Emotional strain

On top of the costs and time involved to recover from cybercrime, the findings also highlighted the emotional strain cybercrime can have on consumers.

More consumers in the UAE (63 per cent) would find the consequences of identity theft stressful than those who find preparing for a presentation at work stressful (44 per cent).

Taufiq said that respondents in the UAE reported a range of breaches and cyber activity they had experienced in the previous year.

“With an increasing number of individuals connected and using mobile devices, mirrored by the growing amount of social media fans, cyber threats are becoming ubiquitous among all age ranges,” he said.

The survey showed that more than half of all UAE consumers reported that an account password had been compromised. Of those who have experienced ransomware, one-third stated that they had experienced ransomware in the last six months.

Overconfident

Of the consumers affected, 67 per cent paid the fee and 30 per cent indicated that even after paying the fee, they did not obtain access to their digital assets.

Despite concern about online crime becoming widespread, Taufiq said that consumers are overconfident in their online security behaviours. Nearly one in four consumers uses devices that have not been protected (22 per cent) and three in four do not have security software installed on their smartphone (77 per cent). Seventy-three per cent of the UAE consumers feel the chance of experiencing online crime is significant enough to worry about.