Manchester Is Europe's Riskiest Online City

WE'RE top of the league in more than football.

When cyber security company Norton teamed up with research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces to uncover the top 10 cities in Europe they found we are the capital of risky online behaviour.

Manchester is ranked No. 1 - apparently because we have the highest incidences of Wi-Fi hotspots and malware attempts.

The 2012 Top 10 'Riskiest' Online Cities in Europe are:

Sperling’s BestPlaces determined the per-capita rankings by examining several consumer behaviours – from the prevalence of PCs and smartphones, to social networking and accessing potentially unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots, among others. 

• Manchester in the UK earned the number 1 spot in European region, with the highest incidences of Wi-Fi hotspots and malware attempts. It also had high percentages among its population for prevalence of computers and Internet access, as well as social networking use. 

• London’s levels among the cybercrime data hovered near the twenty-fifth percentile, and although London’s cybercrime data was low, its high levels of Internet use, social networking and computer prevalence raised its overall risk factors for an average ranking at 5. 

The following risk factors were measured:

• ·Cybercrime data

o    Bot-infected computers within a specific city

o    Attempted malware infections within a specific city

o    Spamming IP addresses within a specific city

o    Web attacks originating within a specific city

• ·Consumer lifestyle data

o    Number of places that offer Wi-Fi connection to the Internet

o    Prevalence of computer use by residents

o    Prevalence of Internet use

o    Use of smartphones