New research has revealed England and Wales’ regions where cybercrime is lower, compared with national trends. This review found that Cleveland comes out on top. Cleveland received 198 cybercrime reports in the past 13 months, which equates to around 3.47 reports per 10,000 people.
The study comes from cyber security firm CloudTech24, who analysed the latest data available from the U.K. government’s National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre. This was with a view to assess which areas had reported the lowest levels of cybercrime for every 10,000 people in the past 12 months.
The most commonly reported types of cybercrime include the hacking of personal information and the hacking of social media or email accounts.
Coming in second place is the Gwent area, which reported 208 cybercrimes in the study, equivalent to around 3.48 reports per 10,000 people when accounted for population. Approximately half of these reports were for hacking social media and email accounts.
The Durham area was in third place, with 230 cybercrime reports were received in the last 13 months by Durham police, which equates to around 3.59 reports per 10,000 people.
Taking fourth place on the list is the Devon and Cornwall area, with Devon and Cornwall Police receiving 647 cybercrime reports during the time of the study, equivalent to 3.62 reports per 10,000 people. Most reports also came in for social media and email account hacking.
Rounding out the top five is the Northumbria area, where in the last 13 months, there were 534 cybercrime reports or 3.63 reports per 10,000 people. Social media and email account hacking were the most common reports, followed by computer malware cases, then the hacking of personal information.
The top ten ‘safest’ areas are:
| Rank | Police Force | Population | Cyber crimes reported | Cyber crimes per 10,000 people |
| 1 | Cleveland | 569,800 | 198 | 3.47 |
| 2 | Gwent | 598,200 | 208 | 3.48 |
| 3 | Durham | 640,600 | 230 | 3.59 |
| 4 | Devon and Cornwall | 1,785,300 | 647 | 3.62 |
| 5 | Northumbria | 1,470,400 | 534 | 3.63 |
| 6 | Derbyshire | 1,064,000 | 395 | 3.71 |
| 7 | Norfolk | 914,000 | 341 | 3.73 |
| 8 | North Yorkshire | 831,600 | 313 | 3.76 |
| 9 | Lincolnshire | 766,300 | 291 | 3.80 |
| 10 | Wiltshire | 727,000 | 281 | 3.87 |
In contrast, the Greater Manchester area was found to have the highest levels of cybercrime, with 6.33 reports per 10,000 people.
