One in seven Swiss residents hit by cyber attacks

The number of cyber attacks in Switzerland has been on the rise in recent years Keystone / Sascha Steinbach

Around one million people in Switzerland have been victims of cyber attacks, according to a study.

The survey External linkcarried out by the gfs-zürich research institute, published on Thursday, revealed that 15% of people questioned had been affected by online attacks.

Despite this, over half of those questioned said they were well informed about how to protect themselves against online attacks. Those who said they were ill-informed about cyber security nonetheless said they felt safe using the internet.

In all, 92% of people questioned said they owned at least one device connected to the internet, including computers, smartphones and televisions. Half of users said they used the same password more than once or on all devices.

“Cyber security is an issue that must be tackled jointly by the public administration, the private sector and politicians. To this end, it is important to inform the general public about cyber risks and raise awareness about them,” said Pascal Lamia, director of the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI), in a statement.External link

The survey was conducted on behalf of the umbrella organisation ICTswitzerland, the Information Security Society Switzerland (ISSS), the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), the Swiss Internet Security Alliance (SISA), swissICT and SWITCH, in association with the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI).