As evidenced by today’s image, “Mr. Malware” is back on the new blog!  It’s easy to forget sometimes just how real the threat of cybercrime is in our world today.  We have to be reminded just how widespread it is.  I’m here to remind you!  😉  With help from a terrific article with a compilation of stats to illustrate the enormous extent of cybercrime today, that is.

In Stephen’s Lighthouse (39 Worrying Cyber Crime Statistics [Updated for 2020]), the author (Stephen Abram) has not only provided you thirty-nine interesting statistics about cybercrime (I prefer the one word spelling of it, myself), he has also identified the source of the statistics.  Here are a few examples:

• Worldwide spending on cybersecurity is forecast to reach $133.7 billion in 2022: With cybercrime on the rise, more money is being spent on its prevention and also on dealing with the effects of its aftermath. 2022 is expected to see a worldwide annual spend of nearly $134 billion, a figure that is set to rise further, according to cybercrime prosecution statistics. (Varonis)
• Data breaches exposed over 4 billion records in the first six months of 2019: In 2019, social media crimes statistics showed a whopping 4.1 billion records were compromised. As shocking as the figure is, what is even more mind-boggling is that these figures only reflect breaches occurring in the first half of 2019. By the end of 2019, this figure more than doubled to reach 9.6 billion. (Data Connectors)  {Side note: according to the US Census Bureau, the world population estimate as of June 2019 was nearly 7.58 billion, so that means more than one record breached per person in the world.}
• 300 billion passwords will be used online by 2021: By 2021, cybercrime facts show that the estimated number of passwords used by humans and machines worldwide will grow to a mind-blowing 300 billion. What’s more, that figure is set to continue rising, so hackers will have numerous targets. (Every Cloud)
• Every 32 seconds, a hacker attacks someone online: And, he’s getting really upset (haha!).  😉  Seriously, though, hackers attack people worldwide roughly every half a minute. This translates to a cybercrime being committed on an average of 2,244 times per day, according to internet security statistics.
• Most breaches go unnoticed for over 200 days at most companies: According to studies and cybercrime stats, the average time it took most companies to identify a breach in 2019 was a surprisingly slow 206 days.  This is of particular concern to the healthcare industry, as it’s the industry with the highest number of attacks. (Entrepreneurship in a box)

You get the idea.  Those are a few of my favorites, but there are several other interesting stats as well.  Great job putting it all together by an author who regularly provides great info on his site!

So, what do you think?  Do any of these stats surprise you?   Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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