Australians afraid of cyber attacks more than COVID-19

In Australia, the fear of cyber attacks is closely followed by the fear of the pandemic, with 68% of residents citing it as a significant threat. Danes, on the other hand, regard climate change as the second biggest risk, with 60% of Danes believing it poses a great danger to the country.

While both the South Korean and the US residents cited the spread of infectious diseases as the top-most threat, cyber attacks came in as the second most frequently mentioned major risk at 83% and 74% respectively.

If we consider data from all 14 surveyed countries, cyber attacks are perceived as the fourth most serious risk globally at 65%, only behind global climate change (70%), the spread of infectious diseases (69%), and terrorism (66%).

Different generations perceive global threats differently. Generally, the population of over 50 year-olds is more likely to name global threats, including cyber attacks, as major concerns.

In Denmark, 79% of those aged 50 and more believe that cyber attacks pose a substantial threat to their country, compared to only 43% of those aged 18 to 29. In Australia, cyber attacks are considered a serious threat by 80% of those aged 50 and above and 52% of those aged 18 to 29.

Furthermore, in the US, 83% of people above 50 years old think cyber attacks constitute a significant threat compared to 61% of 18 to 29-year-olds. However, in South Korea, 30 to 49-year-olds expressed more concern over the cyber attack threat (88%) compared to 87% of Koreans aged above 50 and 65% of Koreans aged 18 to 29.