Bangalore: India is ranked fifth in the worldwide ranking of countries affected by cyber crime, claims a report by the Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) and McAfee reports Sheetal Sukhija of ibnlive.com

According to the report titled ‘Cyber Security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules’, the premium on internet privacy in the country is quite low.

SDA, a leading defence and security think-tank in Brussels, spoke to leading global security experts to ensure that findings would offer useful recommendations and actions.

“Much of the vulnerability is explained by widespread computer illiteracy and easily pirated machines,” pointed out the report. This is another reason for the phishing and other scams, it said.

“In India, we went straight from no telephones to the latest in mobile technology. It is the same with internet-connected computers. They came in all of a sudden and no one was taught even the basic facts about cyber security,” explained Cherian Samuel, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, in the report.

Other respondents in the research study said that many internet users need to understand basic concepts of cyber safety before logging on. “People in India have to understand basic security like PIN numbers and passwords,” said Kamlesh Bajaj, Data Security Council of India (DSCI).