Millennials not interesting enough to be hacked? Over a third think so…

A new study by Kaspersky shows that over a third of millennials globally think that they’re too boring to be hacked by cybercriminals.

The finding comes as part of Kaspersky’s latest report — More Connected Than Ever Before: How We Build Our Digital Comfort Zones. 

While millennials are generally tech-savvy and prioritise their online security, 37% of millennial respondents think that they’re too boring for cybercriminals to target.

This is a generation with working lives defined by the fallout of the 2008 global financial crisis. We’ve also seen surges in the cost of housing and education.

Even in the US, the world’s richest country, millennials are expected to be the first generation ever to be worse off than their parents.

So the cynical belief that cybercriminals have better fish to fry is pretty on-brand for us.

Millennials and online security

Despite this belief among a large portion of millennials, cybersecurity awareness is relatively high.

Kaspersky says that over half (52%) of millennial respondents said that they only run trustworthy apps from official app stores.

Meanwhile, 49% run regular anti-virus scans on each of their devices.

“However, a mischievous streak also appears in 13% of millennials, who admitted to using their neighbours’ Wi-Fi in the past without them knowing,” Kaspersky notes.

While millennials are pretty aware of online risks, Kaspersky provides a few tips for tightening up security.

Awareness around how you can be hacked is especially important with many working from home.

With the rise of gaming during lockdown, cyberattacks targeting gamers also surged this year.

Kaspersky’s tips include:

• Pay attention to a website’s authenticity.
• Try looking for reviews of sites that seem suspicious to you.
• Keep a list of which services and websites may be storing your personal information.
• Block the installation of programs from unknown sources in your smartphone’s settings and only install apps from official app stores.
• Start using the “Privacy Checker” tool to help make your social media profiles more private.
• Use a security solution with home network monitoring, such as Kaspersky Security Cloud. This type of software can send alerts to all devices in the home and detect Wi-Fi intruders immediately.

Feature image: Steve Halama on Unsplash