15 Alarming Cyber Security Facts and Stats

The cybersecurity industry is rapidly growing every day. Although more resources are being deployed to counter cyber attacks, the nature of the industry still has a long way to go before we can, as a whole, catch up with these threats. It’s important for us to define what the current information security and cybersecurity industry looks like with these alarming 15 Cyber Security Facts and Stats.

1. 95% of breached records came from only three industries in 2016

Government, retail, and technology. The reason isn’t necessarily because those industries are less diligent in their protection of customer records. They’re just very popular targets because of the high level of personal identifying information contained in their records.

2. There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds

A Clark School study at the University of Maryland is one of the first to quantify the near-constant rate of hacker attacks of computers with Internet access— every 39 seconds on average, affecting one in three Americans every year —and the non-secure usernames and passwords we use that give attackers more chance of success.

3. 43% of cyber attacks target small business

64% of companies have experienced web-based attacks. 62% experienced phishing & social engineering attacks. 59% of companies experienced malicious code and botnets and 51% experienced denial of service attacks.

4. The average cost of a data breach in 2020 will exceed $150 million

As more business infrastructure gets connected, Juniper Research data suggests that cybercrime will cost businesses over $2 trillion total in 2019.

5. In 2018 hackers stole half a billion personal records

This was a 126% jump from 2017. Since 2013 there are approximately 3,809,448 records stolen from breaches every day.. 158,727 per hour, 2,645 per minute and 44 every second of every day reports Cybersecurity Ventures.

6. Over 75% of healthcare industry has been infected with malware over last year

The study examined 700 healthcare organizations including medical treatment facilities, health insurance agencies and healthcare manufacturing companies.

7. Large-scale DDoS attacks increase in size by 500%

According to the Q2 2018 Threat Report, Nexusguard’s quarterly report, the average distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack grew to more than 26Gbps, increasing in size by 500%.

8. Approximately $6 trillion is expected to be spent globally on cybersecurity by 2021

Organizations need to make a fundamental change in their approach to cybersecurity and reprioritize budgets to align with this newly defined reality of our modern society.

9. By 2020 there will be roughly 200 billion connected devices

The risk is real with IoT and its growing. According to figures compiled within a recent Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, there are 25 connected devices per 100 inhabitants in the US.

10. Unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide will reach 3.5 million by 2021

More than 300,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are unfilled, and postings are up 74% over the past five years.

11. 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error

Cyber-criminals and hackers will infiltrate your company through your weakest link, which is almost never in the IT department.

12. More than 77% of organizations do not have a Cyber Security Incident Response plan

What’s worse? An estimated 54% of companies say they have experienced one or more attacks in the last 12 months.

13. Most companies take nearly 6 months to detect a data breach, even major ones

Equifax, Capital One, and Facebook just to name a few. Information such as passwords, credit card details, and social security numbers may already be compromised by the time you’re notified.

14. 46% of all Bitcoin transactions involve illegal online activity

Cryptocurrency is becoming one of the largest unregulated markets in the world. A recent study shows that around $76 billion in cryptocurrency is used in criminal activity every year.

15. Total cost for cybercrime committed globally has added up to over $1 trillion dollars in 2018

Don’t think that all that money comes from hackers targeting corporations, banks or wealthy celebrities. Individual users like you and me are also targets. As long as you’re connected to the Internet, you can become a victim of cyber attacks.

What does it all mean?

Ginni Rometty, IBM’s chairman, president and CEO, said: “Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world.” And she was right. During the next five years, cybercrime might become the greatest threat to every person, place and thing in the world. With evolving technology comes evolving hackers, and we are behind in security.

Understanding the cyber terminology, threats and opportunities is critical for every person in every business across all industries. By providing advanced cyber training and education solutions in all departments of your business, from marketing and sales to IT and InfoSec, you are investing in your company’s protection against cyber threats.

Article reproduced courtesy of Cybint (Cyber Solutions) written by Devon Milkovich September 23rd 2019......