Turns out Australians are at a high risk of becoming victims of cybercrime, according to the new Cyber Risk Index by NordVPN.
We have a high-income economy, advanced technological infrastructure, urbanisation and digitalisation. But, these same factors increase the prevalence of cybercrime, so we need to be more careful, they say!
What are you doing that puts you at risk?
Basically everything. The more time you spend online increases your risk the most, driven by Australia’s reputation for whopping internet consumption.
NordVPN’s Cyber Risk Index shows that 9 out of 10 Australians use the internet, which presents a lot of opportunities for cybercriminals to strike. “Australians are very active on social media, and a whopping 17% of the population play online games — that’s the 7th highest score globally,” says Daniel Markuson, internet privacy mastermind at Nord VPN.
“That’s fine”, you think. “I’m not at risk”, they say. Wrong. Given the average monthly wage in Australia is almost $2000 higher than the average, the temptation for online shopping is greater, offering up a much more enticing target for cybercriminals, too.
How can you relax the risks to you?
So, the good news is, Australia’s ranked 11th globally on the Global CyberSecurity Index. It’s a score that evaluates legal, technical, organisational and capacity building factors on a country level.
But the real factor that contributes to your risk is you. You’ve got to understand what increases the cyber risk — that time spent online and income are very important factors. That’s a profound step towards a safer digital life.
But it looks like, on the whole, we’re okay. That’s another reason why Australia isn’t higher on the most vulnerable list: most Australians may be active internet users, but the time we spend online is limited. Here’s a breakdown of how you’re adding to the contribution:
| Average | Australia | |
| Internet penetration | 79% | 90% |
| Smartphone penetration | 65% | 70% |
| eCommerce penetration | 69% | 71% |
| Facebook penetration | 58% | 68% |
| Instagram penetration | 29% | 37% |
| VoD penetration | 29% | 32% |
| Online Games penetration | 11% | 17% |
| WiFi per 100 urban people | 2.7 | 2.9 |
| Time spent on the internet | 6:30 | 5:04 |
| Urban population | 76% | 86% |
| Monthly average wage in US$ | 2,600 | 4,459 |
| Departures per capita | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Crime Index | 39.39 | 42.76 |
| Global Cybersecurity Index | 0.767 | 0.890 |
Of course, the simplest way to avoid risk is by investing in some technology that does it all for you, like Nord VPN.
Nord’s the world’s most advanced VPN service provider, used by over 12 million internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. It’s almost too easy to use and can be found at their website nordvpn.com