Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

One in seven Swiss residents hit by cyber attacks

Hacker using computer
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). 

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

11 percent of companies in line with Paris Agreement

More

Only 11% of companies in line with Paris Agreement

This content was published on Only 11 percent of listed companies worldwide are currently operating in line with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is the conclusion of an analysis by the US financial services provider MSCI.

Read more: Only 11% of companies in line with Paris Agreement

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR