One in five Dutch victim of cybercrime: study

Last year 3.4 million people in the Netherlands fell victim to cybercrime, according to a study by security company Symantec. That comes down to around one in five Dutch. The victims lost a total of around 1.3 billion euros. Symantec concludes that people overestimate their knowledge of digital security, RTL Nieuws reports.

The average victim uses multiple devices. For example, in addition to a computer and a smartphone, also have a smart watch, or a smart household appliance. Many also tend to use one password for multiple accounts. This means that if hackers get hold of your details on one site, they can try the stolen password to get access to other accounts as well. Symantec calls this leaving the "virtual back door" open.

The most common form of cybercrime in the Netherlands is phishing, where scammers prompt people in, for example, an email to enter their username and password on a fake website.

In Europe 98.2 million people fell victim to cybercrime last year, losing around 23.3 billion euros. That is roughly the size of Iceland's economy.

Symantec questioned 20 thousand people in 20 countries, including over a thousand Dutch, for this study. The company found that in addition to having confidence in themselves when it comes to cyber security, people also have confidence in the digital security of banks and providers. The confidence in the government and social media's digital security fell.