12 Cybercrime Stats that Highlight the Need for Cybersecurity Professionals

IT certifications Rameez Khizer, IT Marketing

Security breaches continue to threaten companies and individuals.

Cyber security professionals are in high demand, and it’s easy to see why. It seems like we hear about a new data breach almost every week, and companies are looking for ways to keep their confidential and proprietary data secure.

Here are some statistics about the current state of cybercrime that illustrate just how much cybersecurity professionals are needed.

1. The global cost of cybercrime was $3 trillion in 2015 and is expected to double by 2021, according to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures. These costs include destroyed data; stolen money, data, and intellectual property; lost productivity; investigational costs; disruption to normal business activities; restoring the systems and data that were destroyed or stolen; and harm to a business’ reputation.

2. More than 29 million records have been exposed in 858 reported breaches, including in the financial, government, healthcare, and education fields. Source: Cybersecurity Ventures

3. 111 billion lines of software code are being produced each year, and each of them has the potential to contain a vulnerability that cybercriminals can exploit. Source: Cybersecurity Ventures

4. Global spending on cybersecurity defense services is expected to total $1 trillion over the next 5 years, although even that probably won’t be enough to be effective because many companies are not spending as much as they should on preventative services. Source: Cybersecurity Ventures

5. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a security breach among the 383 organizations queried was $4 million. For U.S. organizations that cost jumped to $7 million.

IT certifications Rameez Khizer, IT Marketing

Hackers are getting better and better at stealing and destroying organizations’ data.

6. Cost per breach was highest in the financial and healthcare sectors because there are a higher number of regulations and compliance requirements. Source: Ponemon Institute

7. Small businesses are suffering from cybercrime in large amounts – according to one report, 50 percent of small businesses said they were cyber-attacked at least once in the last 12 months. Source: Keeper Security 2016 State of SMB Cybersecurity Report

8. Just 38 percent of organizations surveyed said they were ready to defend against cybercrime in 2015. Source: ISACA 2015 Global Cybersecurity Status Report

9. When phishing is used by hackers to gain entry to a network. 30 percent of phishing emails are opened, while 12 percent of those who open the email click the infected link causing a possible breach. Source: Security Intelligence

10. Businesses and governments are rushing to implement security awareness training for employees to prevent them from falling for phishing and other attacks. Source: Ponemon Institute

11. The opportunities to hack people have grown to a million or more with the advent of wirelessly connected and digitally monitored implantable medical devices, including defibrillators, pacemakers, insulin pumps, ear tubes, and deep brain neurostimulators. Source: Cybersecurity Ventures

12. The cybersecurity workforce shortage was one million in 2016 and is expected to grow to 1.5 million by 2019 – less than three years from now. Source: Cybersecurity Ventures

PC AGE offers courses on cybersecurity including preparation for security-related and ethical hacking IT certifications that can lead to jobs and careers in cybersecurity. Contact us for information about how to become a cybersecurity professional and help ease this critical shortage.

Rameez Khizer, IT Marketing