About 23 million Germans fell victims to Cybercrimes in 2017, representing 38 per cent of adults, who were regularly online, the U.S. computer security company Norton by Symantec said on Tuesday.
The company put the total damage caused at almost 2.2 billion Euros (2.7 billion dollars).
Norton said identity theft, attacks with ransom software and credit card fraud were the main crimes.
The company undertakes an annual study of cybercrime, taking in 20 countries in 2017.
According to the company, 978 million users suffered criminal damage.
The study found “astonishing parallels’’ in the victims, most of whom were average uses, who were relatively skilled, but showed “a certain carelessness’’ when online.
“Many people behave with dangerous carelessness,’’ Norton manager Nick Shaw said.
According to the study, seven per cent of German users were hit by ransomware, where their own data is blocked and a ransom is demanded for its release.
According to Norton, around one in 10 of these victims paid up. Norton advises computer users to back up their data.
“Giving in to the demands of hackers merely helps the attackers,’’ he said, while there was no guarantee that the data would be restored.
