New report finds scammers tracking victims through current events and pop culture trends

NortonLifeLock global research team has found that online trackers know up to 80 per cent of a user’s browsing history and shared the top consumer cyber security insights from October to December 2021 in its fourth quarterly Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse Report.

Leveraging the company’s global threat telemetry, the Norton research arm shared analysis, including new findings on the omnipresence of online advertising trackers, as well as scams dominating the final quarter.

In Australia, Norton technology blocked 39,062,003 cyber threats during the last quarter – an average of 424,586 blocks per day between October and December.

Norton Labs also found that consumers are tracked as soon as they go online by many different organisations, and the trackers collect significantly more of consumers' digital lives than previously reported, including sensitive information about individuals.

According to Darren Shou, head of technology at NortonLifeLock, "While it’s common knowledge that web trackers follow us around the internet, our online privacy researchers were surprised to find that some online trackers know up to 80 per cent of a user’s browsing history."

"We hope these findings shine a light on online tracking and empower consumers to take back their online privacy," Shou said.

Notably, Norton Labs found that half the tracking organisations encountered by a user in a typical week when browsing take this data within the initial two-hour browsing period. This suggests that even if users were to clear their browsing history every day, it would only take an average of two hours to re-encounter half of all online trackers.

The latest information from Norton Labs, at a glance:

In 2021, Norton technology blocked 3.6 billion cyber threats worldwide – nearly 10 million blocks per day. Throughout the year, Norton technology blocked 53.9 million phishing attempts, 221 million file threats and 1.4 million mobile threats and 253,063 ransomware attacks around the world.
The most prevalent scams are tied to COVID-19 and pop culture: Cyber criminals continued to exploit the pandemic with COVID-19 scams, capitalising on public interest in ever-evolving updates. Moreover, they leveraged consumer interest in popular shows, with phishing scams disguised as product or merchandise offers linked to hit shows, enticing consumers to follow links and share their financial and personal information.
Hacks and breaches in 2021: the Norton Labs team’s report details the potential long-term impact of high scale breaches, attacks on trading platforms and streaming sites.
The Norton Labs report emphasises how, despite 2021 featuring significant data breaches and concerning hacks, the global cyber security community has worked together by sharing information and developing systems to help businesses and consumers.

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Nastasha Tupas

Nastasha is a Journalist at Momentum Media, she reports extensively across veterans affairs, cyber security and geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific. She is a co-author of a book titled The Stories Women Journalists Tell, published by Penguin Random House. Previously, she was a Content Producer at Verizon Media, a Digital Producer for Yahoo! and Channel 7, a Digital Journalist at Sky News Australia, as well as a Website Manager and Digital Producer at SBS Australia. Nastasha started her career in media as a Video Producer and Digital News Presenter at News Corp Australia.

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New report finds scammers tracking victims through current events and pop culture trends

Nastasha Tupas

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