Portland, Oregon: Watch Your (Cyber)Wallet

"What's the Riskiest City for Web Surfing?"
FOXNews (March 22, 2010)

"You probably won't be mugged in smaller cities like Portland, Ore., but you're more likely to have your cyberwallet picked.

"Those same factors that are likely to boost a city's civic pride -- prevalence of Wi-Fi hot spots, a cyber-savvy populace and so on -- also make citizens more likely to be at risk for cybercrime, finds a new study released Monday morning.

"The data comes from Symantec's Security Response group, which in conjunction with research firm Sperling's BestPlaces just released a list of the 10 riskiest online cities. In the study, the company compared the number of cyberattacks against several potential risk factors, including the prevalence and speed of Internet access, usage, how much citizens spend on computer gear, and how likely they are to shop online.

"Regardless of the size of the city, score high on those marks and the crooks will find you...."

I live in Minnesota, and one of the cities in this state made the top 10:

1. Seattle
2. Boston
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco
5. Raleigh, NC
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Minneapolis, MN
8. Denver, CO
9. Austin, TX
10. Portland, OR

There's a list to the top 50 American cities in this risk category in the article. If you didn't see your home state in the top 10, there's still hope. If that's the right word.

Finally, a sort of heads-up from the article. You probably already know this, but:

"...Cybercrime isn't made up of anonymous, blanket attacks any more. 'That's changed a lot in the past two years,' says [Norton Internet Safety Advocate Marian] Merritt, pointing out the increase in 'spear fishing,' where criminals target the high-profile (and wealthier) executives at organizations...."