THE government is urging people in Merseyside to protect themselves against cyberattacks.

New statistics have revealed the majority of people in the North West put themselves at risk of becoming victims of an attack on their mobile by not downloading software updates.

The research was carried out after it was revealed an estimated two million cybercrime offences were committed last year.

Danny Lawrence, national police chiefs’ council PROTECT Co-ordinator for Cyber Crime, said: “Many people believe software updates are purely cosmetic but they also address security vulnerabilities in software, plugging gaps which hackers exploit to gain access to the general public’s devices.

“It takes very little time or effort to download the latest software updates. Do not ignore this risk by thinking that it won’t happen to you; because it just might.”

Software and app updates contain vital security upgrades which protect devices from viruses and hackers.

The most common reason respondents across the UK gave for not downloading the latest software updates for their computer was that it was too time consuming.

Findings also showed the majority of people thought they did not know a lot about the security benefits of downloading the latest software updates for mobile phones.

A government-led organisation Cyber Streetwise is now launching the campaign #quickupdates, aiming to educate people on the dangers.

Lynn Farrar, chair of neighbourhood watch said: “We wholeheartedly support the #quickupdates campaign and we are urging everyone to download software updates on mobiles, laptops and computers as soon as they appear in order to protect against cybercrime.

“This is such a quick and easy way to protect yourself, your family and your community against hackers it makes sense to get into the habit of doing it as soon as you possibly can.”

To find out more, including how to set your device to that it automatically downloads the latest software updates visit www.cyberstreetwise.com/software-updates