Young adults who have grown up using Facebook and other forms of social networks are likely to engage in risky online behavior, according to a recent study.
Millennials, or adults between the ages of 18 and 26, who have developed a level of trust in technology are more at ease with sharing their personal information online, making them vulnerable to online threats and attacks.
Today's highly connected and networked environment brings with it as many threats as it does opportunities.
"The number of attack vectors continues to multiply in direct proportion to the growing number of devices and connected users," the report stated.
The report estimates point to as many as 1 million adults becoming cyber crime victims every day.
Nearly half of the 1,000 young adults surveyed for the study have used a storage device that wasn't their own in the past three months, and two-thirds have connected to a no-password-required Wi-Fi network.
Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, told the USA Today that the digital generation tends to be nonchalant rather than ignorant.
"It's not like they're naïve about the risks," he said. "Risks don't necessarily paralyze people from doing what they want to do."
Basic, but risky, online behavior also include sharing passwords with a non-family member and not changing the password to an online bank account.
Beyond the importance of teaching safe cyber practices online, it is critical to develop a cyber workforce capable of securing the nation's economic interests, and there is a growing demand for young adults in this area.
However, the incoming workforce isn't very interested in cyber security jobs, which are projected to increase 22 percent by 2020, the USA Today reports.
Only 24 percent of those surveyed were potentially interested in cyber security jobs, while about 40 percent were interested in entrepreneurship and pursuing careers in entertainment.
However, 86 percent of them believe it's important to increase cyber security awareness programs in the workforce and in formal education programs.
Of those surveyed, 82 percent of young adults said that no high school teacher or guidance counselor mentioned to them the idea of a career in cyber security. Zogby Analysts surveyed 1,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 16 with a margin of error of 3.2 percent.
