15 Alarming Cyber Security Facts and Stats

Cyber Security Facts

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 considering 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 | Cyber Security Facts

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 global average cost of a data breach is $3.9 million across SMBs

For most businesses this is sum is crippling – not only monetarily but in reputation. For public companies, the cost is much greater since more is at stake, on average a data breach at a publicly-traded company would cost $116 million.

5. Since COVID-19, the US FBI reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes

As if a pandemic wasn’t scary enough, hackers leveraged the opportunity to attack vulnerable networks as office work moved to personal homes.

6. More than 93% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach over the past three years

Also according to the Herjavec Group, 57% have had more than five data breaches during the same timeframe.

7. Human intelligence and comprehension is the best defense against phishing attacks

According to Cofense thwarting phishing attempts comes down to user behavior and understanding is the best way to protect your business against some of the most common hacking methods.

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. Connected IoT devices will reach 75 billion by 2025

The IoT market is due to reach 31 billion connected devices this year in 2020 and by 2025 it will be roughly 75 billion IoT devices.

10. Unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide will reach over 4 million by 2021

More than 500,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are unfilled, and postings are up 74% over the past five years. Of those jobs, cybersecurity engineers are some of the highest-paid positions started at $140K annually on average.

11. 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error | Cyber Security Facts

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. Share prices fall 7.27% on average after a breach

The lowest point occurring up to 14 market days after a breach. Finance and payment companies saw the largest drop in share performance post-breach according to Comparitech.

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 cyberattacks.

What do Cyber Security Facts 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. Our best defense is to stay informed and learn from, albeit scary, but useful cybersecurity statistics and facts.

Understanding the cyber terminology, threats and opportunities are 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.