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Second City third in cybercrime

Date: April 18, 2012
Source: Chicagotribune.com
By: Emily York

The Second City came in third for online crime origination according to a study released Tuesday by ThreatMatrix, a San Jose, Calif.-based cybercrime prevention company.

New York and Atlanta came in first and second, respectively.

"New York was ranked No. 1 in e-commerce fraud risk with transactions 1.5 times as likely to be at risk in comparison to second ranked Atlanta, and twice as likely in comparison to No. 3 Chicago," said Alisdair Faulkner, chief products officer, ThreatMetrix. "As fraudsters grow more sophisticated and expand globally, it's only natural that large cities with international profiles, easy access to shipping and high connectivity rates will become breeding grounds for new generations of cyber threats, including both fraud and malware."

Los Angeles ranked fourth on the list, followed by Omaha, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston,Washington, D.C., and the relatively surprising Lexington, Ky.

Faulkner added that New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are great places for cybercriminals that steal identities, passwords and credit cards. "We would expect to see a highly connected city like San Francisco rank higher, but perhaps the relatively substantial penetration of Apple devices which are largely seen to be less vulnerable to malware explains its relatively low ranking," he said.

ThreatMetrix reviewed online transactions during the first quarter of 2012, rating fraud risk low, medium or high, and then ranking the top 150 cities on the percentage of medium or high-risk transactions.


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