22 Fascinating Cybersecurity Statistics
Cybersecurity now is at the forefront of major political and economical scandals, since our technological era is prone to cyberattacks and cybercrime costs. With that said, it’s important to keep your information safe and learn how you can stay protected from cyberattacks.
After the pandemic, many people are staying home or pivoting to remote work, and with cyberattacks on the rise, it’s important to note what are some of the most noteworthy cybersecurity statistics.
Cybersecurity statistics to know
With many attacks on the rise, involving anything from phishing to ransomware, new industries are also being targeted, such as healthcare. Here are some surprising statistics:
- More than 75% of attacks are initiated by email (Round Robin, 2020)
- In 2020 alone, the FBI received 15,421 complaints involving internet crime that was linked to technical support fraud from 60 countries. (FBI, 2020)
- More than half of consumers have experienced cybercrime, with around one in three falling victims in the past year alone. (Norton, 2021)
- In 2020, over 2000 cyber crime complaints were received daily by the FBI. (FBI, 2020)
- Between 2020 and 2025, the healthcare industry expects to spend nearly $125 billion on costs related to cybersecurity. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2020)
COVID-19 cybersecurity stats
The world of cybersecurity also suffered during COVID-19. Hackers were able to find opportunities to take advantage of this situation. Here are some COVID-19 cybersecurity statistics you should be aware of:
- 65.7% of COVID-19 related threats are spam emails. (ENISA, 2020)
- Since COVID-19, the FBI has reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes. (The Hill, 2020)
- 25% of all employees have noticed an increase in fraudulent emails, spam, and phishing attempts in their corporate email since the beginning of the COVID-19. (Deloitte, 2021)
Online privacy and cybersecurity
Adults are becoming even more concerned with privacy, due to the majority of cybercrimes being towards their own personal information and privacy. Here are some stats regarding online privacy and cybersecurity:
- 58% of adults are more worried than ever about being a victim of cybercrime. (Norton, 2021)
- 38% of users say they have never considered themselves a victim of identity theft. (Norton, 2021)
- 53% of adults feel as though they are unsure of what steps to take to protect themselves against cybercrime. (Norton, 2021)
- 41% of people don’t think their accounts are valuable enough to be worth a hacker’s time. (LastPass, 2020)
- 60% of users state that they are willing to sacrifice their online privacy in exchange for the convenience of the internet. (Norton, 2021)
Cost of cybercrimes
There are costs associated with cybercrimes, especially because most of them tend to be about money. Here are examples of what these cybercrimes ended up costing users:
- Victims of cybercrimes lost over $4.2 billion in 2020 alone. (FBI, 2020)
- Confidential information and documents are being sold on the dark web. Such as a Social Security number for only $1, a U.S. passport for upwards of $2000, and even credit card information for $110. (Experian, 2018)
- This past year, cybercrimes cost victims an average of 6.7 hours to resolve, which totaled over 2.7 billion hours worldwide. (Norton, 2021)
- California’s population lost over $500 million in 2020 alone, and it’s the group suffering the highest financial losses. (FBI, 2020)
Cybersecurity statistics for businesses
Especially for business owners, it’s important to stay well informed about cyber attacks. If you have sensitive data from customers, pay extra attention to your business security. Cyber attacks can also affect your business’ funds. Here are some statistics to know:
- Over 47% of businesses are affected by employees downloading one or more unsafe apps. (Checkpoint, 2021)
- The industries suffering the highest rates of data theft for payment information are finance, insurance, and retail. (Trustwave, 2020)
- The banking industry had the highest losses to cybercrime found, totaling $18.3 million in 2018. (Accenture, 2019)
- 57% of business organizations have suffered a phishing attack through one or more of their mobile phones. (Wandera, 2020)
Cyberattacks on the rise
These cybersecurity statistics and the analysis of online user habits indicate that there are some emerging and existing threats on the rise. Here are some that you should pay attention to:
- Cryptojacking: these are cybercrimes associated with cryptocurrencies. It gives cybercriminals unauthorized access to people’s cryptocurrency allowing them to steal it.
- Mobile-focused cybercrimes: these are attacks associated with mobile devices, such as your phone. They can come in the form of phone scams, malicious third-party apps, and spyware.
- Social engineering: this is considered the ability to manipulate someone to share confidential information through digital communication.
- Stalkerwarre: these are cybercrimes related to cyberstalking. They are often installed unknowingly and cybercriminals can trace all of the person’s activity.
- IoT-focused cybercrime: IoTs are devices that can connect to the internet and share data with other devices. This includes phones, laptops, smart TVs, and gaming consoles. These devices are at risk of having data collected and infringement of privacy.
How to protect yourself from cybercrime
Knowing stats related to cybersecurity is just the start, it’s also important to learn how to protect yourself in certain situations. Here are some cybersecurity tips and things to be on the lookout and when protecting your information and device from cyberattacks:
- Pay attention if your computers and devices are running slower than usual.
- Be wary and never open links of links from unknown sources on your emails, text messages, or smart devices.
- Make sure you have a well-performing antivirus. Investing in an antivirus can be a good way to prevent cyberattacks. For example, Norton is a leading provider in the industry.
- Be careful when engaging in virtual relationships. Avoid disclosing any personal information or sensitive data.
- Make sure your apps have an added level of authentication to prevent stalkerware from breaches.
There are an estimated 1,000 data breaches and thousands of cyberattacks that happened in 2020. In addition to that, there are more than 2,200 cyberattacks per day, equating to about one cyber attack every 39 seconds. If that sounds shocking to you, now is the time to pay extra attention to your information and devices. Knowing these statistics and ways to protect yourself can help you prevent being involved in cyberattacks. For more information on how to protect yourself, check out the infographic below.
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