Cybercrime cost Canadians 2 bln dollars last year

More than 7 million Canadians were victims of cybercrime last year, with a total financial loss of 2 billion CAD (1.5 billion U.S. dollars), as revealed by a latest report issued by information technology security company Symantec.

The report said that the younger generation were among the most likely to get themselves into trouble by sharing email and even banking accounts password.

Cybercrime victims on average spent 11 hours dealing with the fallout from the crimes, according to the report released on Monday.

"When you look at not only the cost but the emotional toll that goes with it and the amount of time it took to deal with cybercrime, it is quite an issue," Vancouver Sun quoted Jamie Manuel, Symantec Canada information protection manager, as saying on Tuesday.

"Ironically, it's the millennials -- those who are more tech savvy; those 18 to 34 -- who are the worst offenders," said Manuel. "Part of it has to do with the fact they have more devices than the older generation.

John Russo, vice-president and chief privacy officer at the credit reporting company Equifax Canada, said Canadians were coming into a busy season for identity theft.

"In terms of the statistics we see, typically around the holiday season is when identity thieves strike," he said. "Around December we see an uptick of around 10 to 15 percent in terms of people reporting identity theft to us .... as well as in March break when people are away on vacation," he added. Endit