Nearly 30 million people from India fell victim to cybercrime during the last one year suffering direct financial loss of USD 4 billion, according to a study by makers of Norton Internet security, Symantec.

"With the spread of Internet, cybercrime has become more organised especially in the developing nations of the world," Symantec country sales manager in India Gaurav Kanwal told mediapersons here today.

"In India it is estimated that more than 29.9 million fell victim to cybercrime last year (2010), suffering direct financial loss of USD 4 billion (approx Rs 18,000 crore) and an additional USD 3.6 billion (approx Rs 16,200 crore) in time spent resolving the crime," Kanwal said stating the Norton Cybercrime Report 2011.

According to Kanwal, the study was conducted online by the company across 24 countries in February this year in which 20,000 people participated globally including 600 from India.

The study further states that the global monetary loss caused by cyber criminals amounted to USD 388 billion while 431 million adult fell victim to cyber crimes.

Kanwal said the study found that top six countries with higher number of cyber crime victims were all emerging markets like China on the top followed by South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, India and Singapore. (More) PTI PB PD DK

The study further said that in India every four out of five adults using online services have been victims of cyber crime. It also identified men in age group 18-31 years as more likely victims of cyber crime.

The most common type of cyber crime was through attack of computer viruses and malware, followed by online scams and phishing, the study stated.

Globally, the direct financial losses from cybercrime stood at USD 114 billion, while USD 274 billion was the value of time that victims spent in solving the crimes.

The study further said that there was serious disconnect in how people view the threat of cybercrime.

The gap between awareness and action is further illustrated by fact that while 74 per cent of respondents said that they were aware of cyber crime, many were not taking the necessary precautions, while 41 per cent of adults said that they did not have up to date Internet security software to protect their personal information online.