New Report Shows Oregon Victims Lose More of Their Income to Cybercrime Than Any Other State
A recent survey showed that Oregon cybercrime victims lost over $586 million in a year, averaging $65K per victim, or 72.51% of income on average, putting the state in pole position in the rankings.
Oregon Cybercrime Losses
A study by SSL certificate experts SSL Dragon revealed where Americans are hit hardest financially by cybercrime. Using cybercrime data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the U.S. Census Bureau across all 50 states, the researchers identified vast regional differences in both the frequency of attacks and their financial impact on victims.
The average loss per victim in each state was calculated relative to the median annual household income by state, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), to arrive at the percentage of median income that victims in each state lose to cybercrime per year.
While Californians suffered the largest total cybercrime loss, losing over $2.5 billion, Oregonians lost the highest proportion of their income to cybercriminals. In the year analyzed, 9,013 Oregonians lost over $586 million to cybercrime, averaging over $65,000 per victim.
The 10 states with the highest cybercrime loss per victim, compared to the median annual household income
| Rank | State | Average loss per victim as a percentage of median annual income | Average loss per victim | Total loss by state | Total victims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | 72.51% | $65,045 | $586,250,124 | 9,013 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 40.15% | $31,592 | $43,502,743 | 1,377 |
| 3 | Mississippi | 38.20% | $21,387 | $65,613,938 | 3,068 |
| 4 | Nevada | 31.18% | $25,130 | $269,548,884 | 10,726 |
| 5 | New Mexico | 30.76% | $19,727 | $76,620,887 | 3,884 |
| 6 | New York | 28.54% | $24,782 | $904,018,100 | 36,479 |
| 7 | North Dakota | 27.98% | $24,641 | $21,831,953 | 886 |
| 8 | Florida | 27.17% | $20,545 | $1,072,194,771 | 52,187 |
| 9 | New Jersey | 26.77% | $27,710 | $435,098,970 | 15,702 |
| 10 | Texas | 26.59% | $21,669 | $1,351,615,060 | 62,376 |
Roman Munteanu, CEO and Founder of SSL Dragon, said the findings suggest that criminals may be executing more sophisticated, higher-value attacks in states like Oregon and Wyoming, while conducting higher volumes of smaller-value scams in states like Alaska and Indiana.
Munteanu suggested that everyone remain vigilant and take steps such as using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and keeping security software up to date.
Oregon Cybercrime Real Losses Closer To $20K Per Incident
In FBI data, a typical cybercrime hit in Oregon is around $20K, not $65K. In 2023, cybercrime victims in Oregon lost $136.1 million, ranking No. 22 in the nation. The FBI data took into account:
- 6,724 cybercrimes were reported by Oregonians in 2023, averaging about 159 cybercrime victims per million people.
- Average reported loss per victim: $20,234.
- Statewide, the losses amounted to $32 per resident in Oregon, ranking No. 20 in the nation on this metric.
Source: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center / 2023 Internet Crime Report (Overall State Statistics + 2023 totals)
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