Norton Country Sales Manager in the Philippines, Jason Mok, shared the findings and insights in the 2012 Norton Cybercrime Report, which tackles the trends in Internet crime, how these crimes affect consumers, and the security measures one takes to keep their devices and personal information safe. Key findings include that there is an increase in instances of cybercrime committed via social networking sites and in mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

The report shows that new forms of cybercrime have flourished over the year. In fact, one in five online adults have been a victim of either social or mobile cybercrime. Examples of which are account hacking, fake links, fraud text messages, and theft of information.

Mok says that there are ways to prevent cyber criminals from hacking your system. He stresses that one of the most important things is to have a strong password, which consists of a clever combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. 27% of online adults report having been notified to change their password for a compromised account. It’s a very simple preventive measure, yet the report shows that 40% still do not use complex passwords for their accounts and devices, thus allowing cyber criminals access to personal information, bank statements, contacts, and files.

Other ways to ensure Internet security is to install a comprehensive security software suite and to check for the padlock symbol on one’s browser before entering personal information on websites, adds Mok.

The report also shows that global consumer cybercrime in 2012 has accounted for approximately $110 billion dollars. This year, there have been approximately 556 million people who have been victims of cybercrime. This shows a major increase as compared to last year’s report, which, according to Mok, showed that there were 430 million victims. On a daily basis, there are 1.5 million victims, and for every second, 18 people are being victimized.

The Norton Cybercrime Report is performed annually to raise awareness of cybercrime among the consumers. “Public apathy is a disease as well, so we have to make people aware that cybercrime is very real,” says Mok. The report was based on a study that was conducted among individuals of ages 18-64 in 24 countries, with a total of 13,018 respondents.

The full-blown presentation of the global results can be found here.