Online Threats Costing U.S. Internet Users Billions

U.S. Internet users lost close to $8.5 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing scams according to Consumer Reports State of the Net Survey.

The survey estimated that U.S. Internet users have replaced around 2.1 million computers over the past two years because of online threats. Internet users have a 1 in 6 chance of becoming a cybervictim, down from 1 in 4 in 2007.

Spyware and virus infections have decreased over the past few years but the damage done is about $6.4 billion over the past two years. Its estimated that 3.5 million U.S. household with broadband are unprotected by a firewall.

The rate of serious virus problems has decreased 32 percent since Consumer Reports began tracking them, but nineteen percent of respondents indicated they did not have antivirus software on their computer.

Spyware problems have decreased 54 percent since the magazine began tracking them, but one in 14 Internet users reported a serious computer problem as a result of spyware. In the past six months, 566,000 households replaced computers due to spyware infections.

Over the past two years, about 6.5 million Internet users have fallen victim to phishing scams by revealing personal information. Consumer Reports estimates that American Internet users lost about $2 billion to phishing scams. The majority (75%) of Internet users said they don’t use an anti-phishing toolbar.