Here's to 2008 and your safety!

Posted by Jennifer Underwood
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I hope that every one has a wonderful 2008!

As we go through this new year, please remember that safety is number one!

Cyber crime and identity theft is continuously on the rise!

With Invisus Direct, you will be able to breathe and live the simple life again…with the experts handling it all for you!  I hear so many people say…’I don’t want to have to pay a monthly fee…or I am protected‘.  Only having to almost immediately have to pay hundreds of dollars up front for fixing/having to buy a new pc…or having to spend thousands on regaining their identity!

Let’s take a look at a few statistics:

Identity Theft:

The Cost of Identity Theft:

    • Identity Theft costs almost $53 billion. The total loss to business and individual victims for all types of reported identity theft–both new account and existing account frauds is almost $53 billion dollars annually. More specifically, business victims experienced a total loss of $47.5 billion or an average of $4,800 per business victim per year. Individual victims account for a total loss of $5 billion and $500 per victim annually.

 

    • Americans spent 300 million hours resolving issues related to identity theft. Between individual and business identity theft victims–an average of 30 - 60 hours per victim was spent on handling various matters related to identity theft including new accounts, existing account and other frauds.

The Perpetrators of Identity Theft:

    • Victims know the thieves who steal their precious name. In over 25 percent of reported identity theft cases, the victims know or are related to the identity thief. Think twice about the people you share personal information with.

 

    • Most identity theft cases start in the workplace. Studies show that up to 70 percent of all identity theft cases are an inside job–perpetrated by a co-worker or an employee of a business that you patronize. Perhaps the greatest surprise is that a large number of the identities were stolen not by an employee — but by the business owner.

http://idtheft.about.com/od/dataandstat1/p/GeneralStats.htm

Cyber Crime:

Consumer Reports, State of the Net 2007

  • In the first half of 2007, spyware infections prompted 850,000 U.S. households to replace their computers.
  • 1 out of every 11 surveyed had a major, often costly problem due to spyware.
  • The economic fallout per incident was $100, with damage totalling $1.7 billion.

Consumer Spyware Initiative

FTC’s Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data, Feb. 2007

  • For the seventh consecutive year, identity thefttopped the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s annual report on consumer fraud complaints, accounting for 36% of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006.

Javelin Strategy and Research, Jan. 2007

Infonetics Research’s Costs of Network Security Attacks: North America 2007

  • Small and medium-sized organisations have “major problems” with spyware - representing 40% of all security downtime costs.
  • Large U.S. organisations lose an average of 2.2% of their annual income - more than $30 million - to security attacks.

Gartner, IT Summit, Sept. 2006

  • Over the next two years, it is estimated 20% to 50% of companies will become infected with spyware.
  • By 2008, 40% of organizations will be targeted by “financially-motivated cybercrime“.

Reuters, Sept. 2006

  • The FBI estimates all types of computer crime in the U.S. costs industry about $400 billion while in Britain the Department of Trade and Industry said computer crime had risen by 50 percent over the last two years.

National Cyber Security Alliance, 2006 Online Fraud Report

  • Two-thirds of consumers who use the Internet for financial transactions are extremely or very concerned about giving their personal or financial information to a fake website, and of hackers stealing financial information from their computers.
  • 67% of those surveyed could not identify a secure website.

National Cyber Security Alliance, 2005 Online Safety Study

  • 81% of home computers lack core protection (updated anti-virus software, a firewall, and spyware protection).
  • 38% of home computers lack any spyware protection software.
  • 68% keep sensitive information, like personal correspondence, professional records, and financial information, on their home computers.
  • 74% use the Internet for sensitive transactions from their home computers, such as banking or reviewing personal medical information.

CMO Council 2006 Consumer Audits

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/spywareeducationcenter/spyware_statistics.php

 

 

So, needless to say.  Being on the internet takes almost being an internet security expertto be online.  Who has the education, and who has the time???  If you have it ..then great!  But I know I don’t and am very proud and relieved that I have Invisus Direct handling and protecting my pc, family, and I!!

 

Jennifer Sasser

478-338-2469