WASHINGTON, October 27 (RIA Novosti) — Almost 70 percent of Americans fear hacking more than burglary, sexual assault or getting murdered, Gallup poll said Monday.
“Americans today are more worried about their credit card information being hacked from stores than about any other crimes they are asked about, and a relatively high percentage say they have been victims of this hacking,” the Gallup report read.
Out of the over 1,000 of those who were surveyed across the country, 69 percent said that they are worried about their credit card information stolen by hackers, while 62 percent said that they are afraid of their computer or smartphone being hacked.
The fear of cybercrime outnumbered the fear of burglary, having a car stolen, sexual assault, getting murdered and even having your child physically harmed at school, the poll showed.
Less than half of Americans worry at least occasionally about other crimes, ranging from 45 percent who worry about their home being burglarized when they are not there to seven percent who worry about being assaulted by a coworker on the job, according to Gallup.
The poll also revealed that those who had an annual income of over $75,000 or more were more likely to worry about being hacked than other annual household income groups. Gallup attributed the relation between a higher annual income and bigger fear of being hacked to this income group’s higher daily spending. The survey said that lower-income Americans are less afraid of being hacked because they are less likely to own credit cards or smartphones.
The US Department of Homeland Security estimates that more than 1,000 US businesses have been targets of cyberattacks. Cybercrime also costs the United States about $100 billion annually, which is more than any other country, according to a study by Intel Security and the Center for Strategic and International studies released earlier this year.
Last year the major US retailer Target was hit by a cybersecurity breach that affected 40 million credit and debit card accounts, one of the largest in the US history.
