Bulgaria ranks last in the EU in terms of awareness of cyber crime

Only a quarter of Bulgarians feel informed about the risks of cyber crime, so that they could protect themselves against it, showed data from a survey of Eurobarometer, conducted in the EU Member States.

With the increasing Internet audience and the more activities we do online rather than offline, the risk of becoming victims of cyber crime or abuse in the Internet goes up. There are plenty of possible dangers – theft of identity, fraud while shopping online, etc. This is why public awareness of how to use the web safely becomes an increasingly important topic.

The data from the survey showed that Europeans do not feel quite prepared to protect themselves on the Internet as a whole. Only 7% of the EU citizens consider themselves well informed about cyber crime risks and 31% have “some information” about these. A total of 59% of the respondents in the European Union believe they are not sufficiently prepared to navigate the web and use the Internet without being subject to risks.

The share of those who consider themselves well prepared for safe web browsing is significantly higher among younger EU respondents. Some 52% of the polled people between 15 and 24 years of age said they are aware of the risks the use of the Internet hides and how to protect themselves against cyber crime. Among the better informed people are university graduates and those occupying managerial positions in the professional hierarchy. Cyber crime awareness is higher than the EU average among everyday Internet users as well.

The level of awareness of the risks on the Internet varies greatly in the different countries of the European Union. The Nordic countries are characterised by a very high level of preparedness and knowledge for the use of the web and the opportunities the Internet offers, without making users subject to cyber crime risks, while Bulgaria, Italy and Portugal are the three countries at the bottom of the ranking, with 24% of the respondents believing to be prepared to cope with the risks on the Internet. A similar self-assessment has been expressed by the people in Romania and Greece.

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