The future is what we make it, right? When it comes to cyber crime, that rule most certainly applies. As bad actors continue to find new cracks in technology, it is imperative that we continue to advance in our efforts to thwart security threats.
No good comes from waving our hands in the air, shouting dooms-day claims, but it is important that we remain aware of the threat landscape so that we may better combat security challenges and new threats. A report by McAfee, in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) announces that global cyberecrime now costs businesses nearly $600 billion annually. That is up from close to $445 billion in 2014. Why the steep climb? The report devises the growth across the three year span to cybercriminals speedily evolving with new technologies, financial sophistication, and the expanded number of cybercrime centers.
Who are cyberciminals targeting you may ask? Financial Services remains at the top of a hacker’s most desired list. But banks and credit unions are not the only industries with targets on their backs. No organization, large or small, of any industry is immune to a cyber attack.
Check out these eye-opening cyber-crime statistics from IBM
- The global cost of cybercrime will reach $2 trillion by 2019, a threefold increase from the 2015 estimate of $500 billion.
- According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) “ITRC Data Breach Report,” more than 29 million records were exposed in 858 publicized breaches across sectors including financial, government, health care and education.
- According to the Ponemon Institute’s “2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis,” which queried 383 organizations that suffered at least one breach in 2016, the average cost per breach was $4 million. That figure rose to $7 million in the U.S. The same study found that the cost per record stolen averages $158 globally, but tops $220 in the U.S.
- Due to the intensity of compliance and regulations, the costs per breach to organizations in the health care and financial services sectors top all other industry groups, according to the Ponemon study.
- The financial hit resulting from theft of trade secrets ranges from 1 percent to 3 percent of an entire nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to IDG’s “Global State of Information Security Survey 2016.” The cost ranges from $749 billion to $2.2 trillion annually.
Stay savvy, my friends.
M