With advancements in technology, the trend of online shopping is on the rise, and to reach a larger customer base, almost every business has developed its website. But all this increase in online activities generates an enormous amount of data that attract cybercriminals. Cybercrime is prevalent nowadays. Individuals’ and businesses’ data is under constant threat.
The events in the world have also increased cyber thefts. As with the pandemic, a large part of the workforce started working from home. An average individual doesn’t know much about security protocols and network protection, making it very easy for hackers and cybercriminals to carry out illicit activities.
This increase in cyber-crime has highlighted the importance of cyber security. Businesses are spending more than ever to ensure cyber security. As a business owner, you must also take into consideration the aspect of cyber security to protect your data. To protect your business and provide cyber security, you need to know what problems you are up against. Here are seven facts and stats about cyber security that will make you aware of the current situation.
1. A Field With 0% Unemployment
The amounts of cyber-crimes that take place daily are tremendous. A cyber-crime happens every 39 seconds. And these cyber-attacks result in huge costs faced by businesses. For an average company, a data breach costs $3.86 million. This is why the demand for cyber security has skyrocketed. This field has a 0% unemployment rate since there is a huge demand for cyber security globally. It’s one of the fastest growing fields, with more than 520,000 jobs open in America only. Especially, the demand for cyber security engineers is increasing. You must be wondering, “what does a cyber security engineer do” the answer is that a cyber-security engineer enhances a business’s or company’s data security posture by designing, implementing, and monitoring security features. This job will have a positive growth rate in the future.
2. Small Businesses Under Attack
It’s no surprise that small businesses are the primary target for cyber-crimes as they are what many call low-hanging fruit, i.e., easy to attack. Small businesses are a target for 43% of cyber-attacks. Small businesses face all different types of cyber-crimes like phishing, web-based attacks, etc. According to stats, 64% of small businesses experienced web-based attacks. And 62% of the companies faced social engineering and phishing attacks. Similarly, 59% of small businesses have faced problems like experiencing malicious net bots or codes. 51% of companies reported facing denial of service attacks. For these small organizations, these attacks cost so much as they already have limited resources. Thus, small organizations are spending $7.68 million on average per attack.
3. The Cost of Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware is a type of malware that infects a person’s computer. In this case, the person is blocked from accessing the device or data. And the hacker demands money as ransom to free up the device or unblock it. The hackers demand cryptocurrency, as it is harder to track. This attack happened every 10 seconds in 2020. And there are very high chances of growth in ransomware attacks. These attacks are costly. The Cyber Security Ventures has predicted that at this rate of attacks, the cost of damages due to ransomware attacks will reach $265 billion worldwide.
4. Biggest Cyber Threat in Coming Years
Supply chain attacks are very common nowadays, and 84% of security and IT professionals state that software supply chain attacks will be the biggest cyber threat in the coming three years. According to research, supply chain attacks increased by 42% in the US in only the first quarter of 2021 and affected up to seven million people. Due to the increase in supply chain attacks, 60% of security professionals report tackling this issue is their highest priority. The financial impact on an enterprise due to a supply chain attack was estimated to be $1.4 million on average. These supply chain attacks have different motives, as stats show that 58% of supply chain attacks are aimed at gaining access to people’s data, intellectual property data, and consumers’ data. In contrast, 16% of attacks were made for the motive of gaining access to people.
5. Primary Cause of Cyber Security Breaches
The main reason behind cyber security breaches is human error, as stats highlight that 95% of all data breaches are results of human error. Human error is vast, as it can refer to action and inaction, for example, having weak passwords, not using VPN, opening unsecured links, downloading malicious attachments, etc. Moreover, research showed a lot of cyber-attacks took place as a result of employee incorporation. Employees do not follow security guidelines and protocols, becoming the biggest hurdle in achieving IT security. This issue also became prevalent due to work-from-home models, as a common worker doesn’t follow security instructions and doesn’t have access to a secure network that is available in workplaces. Due to the pandemic, cybercrimes have increased by 300%, according to US FBI.
1. Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are the most common form of cyber-attacks, and email is the biggest channel of phishing attacks. Statistics show that 57% of organizations experience phishing attacks daily or weekly. To put into perspective, that is more than half of the organizations that face phishing attacks almost every other day. Research shows that 65% of cyber criminals used spear phishing as their primary infection vector. Out of all the security incidents reported, phishing attacks account for more than 80%. Moreover, phishing attacks are very costly, as $17,700 is lost each minute in case of a phishing attack.
2. Days Required to Detect a Cyber Attack
Being a victim of a cyber-attack, be it an individual or a business, is frightening enough already, but the harder part is that you won’t even get to know till some time that you are under a cyber-attack. It’s not like you will get a notification. It takes days to detect a cyber-attack and some extra days on top of that to handle it. On average, it takes almost 280 days in total to detect and handle a cyber-attack. For a typical organization, it takes 197 days to detect an attack in the first place. And sometimes, it can take more days to detect breaches if you don’t have a strong security system. After detection, the attack will persist for 69 days on average. The weaker a company’s security, the more hundreds of thousands of dollars it loses due to cyber-attacks.
Conclusion
Every business has to maintain an online presence to attract more customers nowadays. An online presence means the threat of cyber-crimes. As the world is gearing up to ensure cyber security, your business should, too. For that, you need to know these seven facts to act accordingly.
