Symantec: Seattle, Boston Riskiest Cities For Cybercrime

Symantec on Monday said that Seattle leads the country in terms of risk from cybercrime, while Detroit has the lowest incidence of cybercrime.

The security vendor listed the top 10 cities in the U.S. in terms of risk from cybercrime, based on its own data about cyber attacks and the possibility of infections from malware, as well as third-party data on such factors as availability of wireless hotspots and the frequency of online shopping.

Seattle, thanks to its being near the top of all the factors contributing to cybercrime, won the less-than-desired distinction of being the city whose citizens are at most risk of cybercrime, Symantec said.

Boston and Washington, D.C. placed second and third thanks to the high number of wireless hotspots. They were followed by San Francisco for virtue of its citizens' high-risk online activities and the number of hot spots.

Rounding out the top ten were Raleigh, N.C.; Atlanta; Minneapolis; Denver; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Ore.

Detroit, on the other hand, was the city whose residents were least at risk of cybercrime, followed by El Paso, Texas and Memphis, Tenn., Symantec said.

While a quick read of the Symantec data might lead to the conclusion that getting rid of wireless hotspots could make a city and its residents safer from cybercrime, the company instead suggested other methods.

They include making sure that software applications are legitimate and fully protected against known and unknown threats, keeping one's operating system and applications patched, and understand the risks, Symantec said.