Cyber Monday (27th November 2017)

Your age, gender, and location can determine how likely you are to fall victim to internet crime on the biggest online shopping day of the year, according to a new report from OpenVPN.

In the USA, last year's Cyber Monday (Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday) was the biggest online shopping day in the history of US e-commerce, with $3.39 billion spent online. This year's promises to be even larger. However, malicious attacks against consumers increase almost 40% on Cyber Monday, and online shoppers need to be more vigilant than ever to ensure the safety of their personal information.

To help consumers better understand their risk of falling victim to an attack, a new report from OpenVPN analysed cybercrimes reported to the FBI and CSN in 2015 and 2016—concentrating on internet crime, fraud, and identity theft. With this data, researchers found the states that were affected most in the country for cybercrime victims, the amount of money lost, the number of victims, and the most victimized sex and age.

In terms of gender, men fell victim to cybercrime more, 75% more often than women, the report found—possibly because men spend more money online, it noted. In terms of age the report found, people over age 50 were the group most likely to fall victim to attacks in about 30 states.