The State of Hacked Accounts

Commtouch’s research report on The State of Hacked Accounts presents statistics on the theft, abuse and eventual recovery of Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and Facebook accounts.  The data reveals that most users get hacked at high rates even when they do not think they are engaging in risky behavior, with 62% unaware of how their accounts had been compromised.

The results presented in the report rely on a comprehensive end-user survey together with data from Commtouch’s GlobalView™ Network, which tracks and analyzes billions of Internet transactions daily.

Other highlights from the research include:

• Less than one-third of users noticed their accounts had been compromised, with over 50% relying on friends to point out their stolen accounts
• 15% of users thought their credentials were stolen after they used a public Internet terminal or WiFi network
• One in eight hijacked accounts were used for a phony distress email scam that asks friends to wire funds to a foreign country, and over half of the accounts were used to send spam.

The report also provides tips for preventing accounts from being compromised.

	View the full State of Hacked Accounts Report
	A brief presentation summarizing the Hacked Accounts Report is shown below.   View the brief presentation of the report on the SlideShare site