Study shows that people living in Greater Manchester are most susceptible to cybercrime

Cyber security experts CloudTech24 analysed the latest data available from the National Reporting Centre to see which areas reported the highest level of cybercrime for every 10,000 people.

Criminals of this kind seek to exploit human or security vulnerabilites in order to steal passwords, data or money directly through hacking or phishing – bogus emails asking for security infromation and personal details.

It found that Greater Manchester is the area with people most at risk, with 1,803 reports made over the last 13 months, equating to 6.33 reports per 10,000 population.

In second place is the Kent area, reporting 1,066 crimes during the same period which is equivalent to 5.71 reports per 10,000 residents.

With 5.60 reports over the last 13 months, the Metropolitan Police area which covers Greater London comes in third place in the rankings.

In all of these regions, the most widely reported cybercrime was the hacking of social media and email accounts, as well as the hacking of personal information, followed by computer viruses or malware.

A spokesperson for CloudTech24 said: “It’s interesting to see how cybercrime can affect everyone, regardless of location, with the top ten areas being very spread out across the country.

"The data indicates that the most common type of crime is hacking of social media and email, which highlights how important it is for people to be vigilant about online threats, both in their personal lives and at work.”