Nearly 50% of victims of tech-enabled abuse report that the perpetrator was someone within their social circle.
This is among the findings from Kaspersky’s tech-enabled abuse study, which also highlights a clear generational and gender gap: nearly 60% of Gen Z respondents said they experienced at least one form of digital abuse in the past year — the highest rate among all age groups — while 62% of women reported feeling unsafe online, compared to 54% of men.
Abuse cycles within relationships
The study by Kaspersky’s internal market research centre, conducted among 7 600 respondents in 19 countries, reveals that online abuse is far more personal than commonly perceived. While 40% of respondents who experienced tech-enabled abuse said it came from someone they did not know, nearly 50% reported that the perpetrator was someone within their social circle.
Friends accounted for 15% of cases, followed by current partners (10%), colleagues (8%), family members (7%), and ex-partners (6%). Countries where abusers more often than average turned out to be someone close to the victims include the US, Italy, Spain, UK, India and Indonesia.
Individuals who experienced abuse from a friend, partner, or family member were significantly more likely to report having acted abusively toward that same category of person. This suggests that tech-enabled abuse can become normalised, reciprocal, and self-reinforcing over time.
The generation gap that leaves older people exposed
Awareness and understanding of tech-enabled abuse vary significantly across age groups, reflecting broader differences in digital literacy and online experience.
Among Gen Z respondents, who grew up with smartphones and constant connectivity, 81% said they were familiar with the term “tech-enabled abuse.” Among Baby Boomers, that figure drops to 64%.
Across all age groups, women report significantly higher levels of discomfort and vulnerability in digital environments. 62% of women said they feel unsafe online, compared to 54% of men. These figures suggest that digital environments are not experienced equally. For many women, online spaces are not only a source of connection and opportunity, but also a space of heightened risk and emotional strain.
“From a cybersecurity perspective, the fact that nearly 50% of tech-enabled abuse cases originate from someone within a victim’s social circle significantly changes how we should approach protection. These threats often do not look like traditional cyberattacks — they are embedded in everyday interactions, trusted devices, and shared access to accounts or data. This makes them harder to detect and easier to overlook. Strengthening digital hygiene, understanding how access and permissions can be misused, and using trusted security tools are essential steps to reducing exposure and preventing such abuse from escalating,” says Tatyana Shishkova, lead security researcher, acting head of research centre Americas and Europe at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT).
“These findings challenge the persistent assumption that technology-facilitated abuse is primarily anonymous or perpetrated by strangers. Instead, they highlight how such harm is often embedded within existing relationships — spaces typically associated with trust and emotional safety. In these contexts, abuse can become part of a cycle of mutual escalation, where individuals respond to perceived harm, control, or humiliation with further harmful behaviour. Digital environments, with their immediacy and intensity, can amplify these dynamics, making it easier for conflict to escalate and harder to interrupt. Recognising these relational patterns is critical to understanding and addressing the full scope of technology-facilitated abuse,” says Dr Leonie Maria Tanczer, associate professor at UCL Computer Science and head of the department’s Gender and Tech Research Lab.
You can read the full report here.