Cybersecurity is rapidly growing every single day. There are all kinds of facts and statistics that emerge at a seemingly constant rate. Because of the nature of this industry, there are all kinds of facts that the general public isn’t aware of or gets lost amongst the masses.
To help with this, here are some alarming facts on cybersecurity you should be made aware of.
1. Three Industries Get Attacked The Most
If you’ve paid attention to local or national news about systems getting attacked, you may notice a trend. In a lot of situations, companies that get hit by cyber-attacks aren’t normally individuals but specifically three industries: government, retail, and technology.
Why are they getting attacked the most?
It’s not because they’re particularly easy targets, but rather that these industries tend to hold the most personal information about us.
2. There Is A Hacker Attack Every 39 Seconds
A study from the University of Maryland managed to quantify the constant rate of hacker attacks for the first time ever. In America, they found there was, on average, an attack every 39 seconds. The near-constant rate affects one in three Americans per year.
And easy passwords and usernames will make these attacks more successful.
3. Breaches Are Expected To Cost Over $150 Million In 2020
As more businesses are becoming more connected, data from Juniper Research has found that cybercrime in 2019 cost businesses over $2 trillion in total. It doesn’t come as much of a shock that we could see these numbers in 2020.
4. Hackers Nabbed Half A Billion Personal Records
Over the years the amount of personal records being stolen has been climbing. In 2013, there were roughly 3.8 million records stolen. In 2018 half a billion personal records, a 126% jump from the year before.
5. Roughly $6 Trillion Will Be Spent Globally On Cybersecurity By 2021
The number of breaches over the past decade is a reminder for companies to step up their cybersecurity. The catch though is it’ll cost businesses worldwide trillions to fix the mess.
6. By 2020, We Will Have 200 Billion Connected Devices
The amount of interconnected devices is both convenient and a bit frightening. According to Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, every 100 inhabitants in the US alone have 25 connected devices.
7. Unfilled Cybersecurity Jobs Globally Will Hit 3.5 Million
If the trends continue the way they are now, cybersecurity jobs will continue to be available with no one to really fill them. In the US alone, over 300,000 cybersecurity jobs are posted, but people don’t fill them.
Why? A lot of people don’t feel they’re qualified despite many of us being qualified.
8. Most Cybersecurity Breaches Are Due To Human Error
To break a chain you need to find the weakest link. In the case of a secure system, a lot of it boils down to infiltrating a weak department. This means as a hacker, they’ll never directly attack the IT department.
9. Most Don’t Have Plans In Cases Of Breaches
What’s even worse is that when a department gets’s attacked, most of the companies don’t have a plan to report it. In fact, 77% of organizations lack a proper plan and of that amount, 54% of companies have stated they’ve been attacked once or more over the span of a year.
10. Companies Spend About 6 Months Finding Any Data Breach
Think back to companies like Equifax, Facebook, or even Capital One. When their systems got breached it took them a long time for them to come out to the public and announce that there was a breach.
What this means is that credit card information, social security numbers (or social insurance numbers), and passwords are already compromised.
11. Almost Half Of Bitcoin Transactions Are Based On Illegal Activity
Because of ransomware and people demanding payment in bitcoins, cryptocurrency gets passed around a lot more. According to a recent study, $76 billion in crypto is used to fuel criminal activity each year.
12. Only 10% Of Cybercrimes Get Reported In The US
One other sign that we need to change our approach to cybersecurity is the fact we don’t report it much. In the US, which is seen as the hub for technology, hasn’t been a bastion for tight security. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the report of cybercrimes represents 10-12% of the actual number.
13. You Can Become A Hacker For Only $1
The number of hacking tool kits and software available on the dark web is astonishing. Some are literally charging $1. Of course like everything, you get what you pay for, however, the thought is disturbing how easily accessible this is.
14. The Motivation Behind Breaches
According to Verizon, 71% of breaches were motivated solely for financial reasons. 25% were motivated for espionage. Of those particular breaches, 52% of them had shown hacking while 28% and 32-33% involved malware, phishing, or social engineering respectively.
15. A Breaches Life
According to IBM part of the reason it takes so long for companies to release statements about breaches is perhaps this: It takes roughly 206 days for companies to identify a breach. IBM also stated a lifecycle of a breach is 314 days, from the actual breach itself to containing it.
This explains why the data that’s taken usually is older information seeing it as it takes almost a full year for a company to identify and to contain a breach.
16. A Reason To Brush Up On Cybersecurity
Part of the reason people might think they’re not qualified for cybersecurity jobs could boil to a lack of knowledge. That or lack of confidence in their abilities.
This kind of makes sense when you look at information Varonis has gathered. According to their survey, 64% of Americans have never checked to see if they were impacted by a data breach. Not only that, but 56% of Americans have no clue what to do in the event of a breach.
17. The Next Leap Is To The Clouds
Cloud computing is the next advancement and companies are taking advantage of it. By 2020, most of the enterprise workloads will be moved there.
18. Email Is Still Popular Amongst Hackers
Email is still a highly viable means of communication, marketing, and the spreading of malware. According to the same report from Verizon, 94% of all malware is delivered through email.
19. Be Wary Of The Apps You Have
A report from Symantec found that 1 in 36 mobile devices currently have high-risk apps installed. Make sure that the apps you get are up to date and are being worked on on the regular. After all, updates commonly have security patches working behind the scenes.
20. Particularly These Ones…
Based on the same Symantec report, out of all the malicious apps out there, most of them have a common theme. Leading the charge of malicious apps is Lifestyle apps at 15%. Taking second is Entertainment apps comprising of 7% of all malicious apps.
The More You Know
Every day there is new information that’s revealed to the public. From breaches to other security tips. No matter the case, stay vigilant and armed with knowledge on what’s going on. The last thing you want to be is one of those numbers.