Research problem and purpose of study:
Rising cybercrime prevalence has become a societal issue with potential major impact on its victims.
Knowledge on how internet users can defend themselves against such threats, however, is lacking. This study’s purpose is to explore and explain people’s online behaviour. Such knowledge can facilitate the development of effective interventions.

A population based survey experiment:
In order to gain insight in online behaviour and the driving forces of this behaviour, such as knowledge, resources or self-efficacy, this study used a population based survey experiment. This method combines the strengths of questionnaire research among a representative group with the advantages of lab- experiments. We firstly measured respondents’ cyber awareness: to what extent do they have knowledge about IT, online risks and preventive measures? Moreover, we examined if respondents have the opportunity and motivation to behave accordingly. Furthermore, we measured respondents’ actual online behaviour: do they fall for cybercrime persuasion techniques? This allows us to explore, for instance, if a high level of cyber awareness leads to actual precautionary online behaviour. Last year at the ESC, this study’s instrument was presented. This year, results from the first wave of data collection among 2400 Dutch internet users will be discussed.