The typical victim of cybercrime? It’s you.

What’s the first image that pops into your head when you think of a cybercrime victim? Is it a clueless, tech-illiterate person who uses the internet once a year only to install malware instead of the promised free antivirus software?

Your stereotypes are all wrong.

Those who spend less time on the internet use fewer online services. This makes them safer online, so it’s not the occasional internet user who is the most vulnerable to cybercrime.

The true victims are digital nomads. Why? Cybercriminals do not look for particular victims — they look for opportunities they can exploit. They are similar to fishermen in this sense: fishermen don’t target a particular fish — they cast a net or throw a rod, hoping to hook any fish. And the bigger, the better.

Falling victim to cybercrime is not about you, right?

You may assume that, if nothing bad has ever happened to you online, nothing ever will. A flawless track record and confidence in your digital skills will drown out any wary thoughts.

That’s the attitude of the Thanksgiving turkey, beautifully described in The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb: “Consider a turkey that is fed every day. Every single feeding will firm up the bird's belief that it is the general rule of life to be fed every day by friendly members of the human race 'looking out for its best interests,' as a politician would say. On the afternoon of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, something unexpected will happen to the turkey. It will incur a revision of belief.”

You think you are invulnerable to cybercrime. Then cybercrime happens, and you incur a revision of belief.

How vulnerable are you?

In March, NordPass, one of NordSec’s products, conducted a survey in the US and UK, which revealed that 22% of respondents in both countries had been affected by cybercrime. Most of them were between 25 and 44 years old and considered themselves tech-savvy. A quarter of all the victims owned a business or occupied a managerial position.

NordVPN, NordSec’s flagship product, took a deeper dive into the issue of cyber risk and ranked 50 countries according to 14 factors, including demographic statistics as well as digital and crime data.

It turns out that the top 10 countries most vulnerable to cybercrime include most of Northern Europe, the US, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, and Denmark. In other words, developed countries with high-income economies, advanced urbanization, digitalization, and technological infrastructure face a much higher cyber risk. Users from these countries are more enticing targets that are much easier to catch.

You are tech-savvy, but are you tech-savvy enough?

The internet is incredibly complex. Do you spend your days thinking about your online security? Because cybercriminals spend theirs thinking of ways to compromise it. There’s asymmetry between the efforts involved.

Cybercriminals aren’t targeting you specifically — they're targeting anyone in a particular bracket. And if you’re reading articles about online security, you’re probably in it. The solution is to stop being a Thanksgiving turkey. Upgrade your online security, because you’re not invulnerable — you’re just standing in line. And, please, stop using the same password on multiple accounts.

ABOUT NORDVPN

NordVPN is the world’s most advanced VPN service provider used by over 14 million internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. The product is the fastest in the market, offers friendly pricing, has over 5,000 servers in 60 countries worldwide, and is P2P-friendly. One of the key features of NordVPN is the zero-log policy. For more information: nordvpn.com.