One-Third of US Adults Hit with Identity Theft

That's double the global average and more than three times the rate of French and German adults.

Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading

October 11, 2018

1 Min Read
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One-third of adults in the United States have experienced identity theft, putting them far ahead of other nations. Thirty-three percent is double the global average and more than three times the rate of people in France and Germany.

It's one of the most concerning metrics to come from Proofpoint's 2018 User Risk Report, which polled 6,000 working adults in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK on their online behavior. What they learned is global security habits have much room for improvement.

Consider the United States, where users are most like to share social check-ins and, in doing so, increase their exposure to cybercriminals. More than half (55%) of global workers who use company-issued devices at home let family members use them for online shopping and games.

Forty-four percent of global respondents don't use passwords to secure their home Wi-Fi networks; 66% have not changed the default password on their routers. However, public networks are considered risky: In Italy, 59% of users think they can trust open Wi-Fi networks, which was "virtually opposite of the global average," experts found.

Read more details here.

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Dark Reading Staff

Dark Reading

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