SberInsurance on cyber threats Russians fear the most

In a survey of 1,500 people, SberInsurance found that over one-half of Russians aged between 18 and 50 had their gadgets infected with malware, and 42% had their social media accounts or mail hacked for spamming. Two-thirds of the respondents are ready to subscribe to cyber protection services amid the high level of cyber threats.

The most common cybersecurity threat is the infection of computers, tablets and smartphones with viruses. More than half of the respondents (54%) have experienced this personally, another 24% know their close ones have faced that. Viruses mostly infect the gadgets of people aged 36-50 (60% versus 50% in people aged 18-24).

Almost a quarter of the surveyed (23%) were blackmailed or extorted for money through hacking a social media account or mail, 18% had their personal data stolen, and 17% were harassed as a result of hacking an account and using compromising data from personal correspondence. In addition, one in seven (15%) faced a hacked game account, unauthorized debiting from a bank card or social engineering.

In general, women are exposed to cyber threats more often than men are: for spamming, an account was hacked in 46% of women, for blackmail and extortion of money - in 29%. Among men, the metric reaches 37% and 17%, respectively. Game account hacking is an exception: male profiles face this twice as often as female ones.

Meanwhile, 44% of survey participants believe that everyone can face the risk of a social media account or mail being hacked for spamming purposes. Another 38% believe that cyber threats can be avoided with the proper level of compliance with security rules; 27% of survey participants see it as extremely unlikely that an account will be hacked. Fears about other cyber threats are significantly lower: 34% of respondents consider the risk of hacking for blackmail and extortion of money to be high, and 29% of those surveyed say the risk of being hacked to be bullied using compromising data is high.

Interestingly, Russians are not too afraid of scammers who debit money from bank cards illegally or use social engineering. One-third of the respondents (18% and 33%, respectively) consider it unlikely for themselves to face such illegal actions.

Denis Kuzmin, director of Protective Products and Services, Sberbank:

"Russians understand that the risk of cyber threats is high enough not only for businesses, but also for any individual. Therefore, many would like to have additional protection against account hacking and gadget malware. Our study showed that 75% of respondents are attracted by the idea of taking out insurance against cyber threats, and 67% are already ready to use it. SberInsurance offers Protect Your Finances, a program that will help you get compensation in case of unforeseen incidents with your funds on Sber accounts and cards. It also covers cyber and social engineering risks: although many Russians are not afraid of them, they often fall victims."