Poll: Cyber crime has affected one in four Americans

Nearly one in four Americans say they or a family member have been the target of a cyberattack, according to a new Gallup poll.

A survey released by Gallup Wednesday showed that 23 percent of Americans said they or a close family member has had their personal or financial information targeted by hackers, far higher than the percentage of Americans who said the same about other types of crime.

{mosads}The percentage is a slight drop from the 25 percent of Americans who said the same last year, but remains 7 points higher than the percentage of Americans who say they or a family member have been the victim of identity theft, the next most-commonly cited crime.

Americans are nearly 10 percentage points more likely to be affected by cyber crime than physical theft of property, according to the survey, and far more likely to experience cyber crime than other acts of crime including vandalism or robbery.

Americans are also more worried about cyber crime and identity theft than being the victim of other crimes, according to the survey. Seventy-one percent of Americans told pollsters that they worry about being affected by a cyberattack, while 67 percent say they worry the same about identity theft.

Gallup’s poll contacted 1,019 U.S. adults living in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., between Oct. 1-10. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.