The estimates the total cost of cybercrime at $388 billion per year, which includes $114 billion in direct theft and time spent resolving attacks plus another $274 billion for productive time victims lost due to cybercrimes being committed against them.
THE LAW:
In all, 589 million have been affected by cybercrime, 431 million of them in the past 12 months, the report says. The study the report is based on was carried out in 24 countries and included 19,636 interviews.
The report says that compares to global drug trafficking, estimated at $411 billion. Cybercrime already surpasses the total of black market marijuana and cocaine sales, Norton says, which totals $288 billion.
The most common form crime takes is viruses and malware, with 54% experiencing them, followed by online scams (11%) and phishing (10%). Norton measured mobile phone crime and found that 10% fell victim, including smishing - phishing by SMS.