Information Security Statistics that Matter

Digital security is a constantly changing scene. Make sure you are up to date to prevent a malicious attack from finding you and your business unaware.

Cyber attacks and security breaches are becoming a daily occurrence, so it is more important than ever to protect your business’ computers as well as your own.

Just as some homes have alarm systems to protect themselves from intruders, one must have the same level of security to prevent virtual attacks. Let’s see what computer security is and why it is so important.

What is computer security?

Computer security is our defense against digital attacks. Methods vary according to need, vulnerability, and threats that are present.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already said it: “Our daily lives, economy and national security depend on a stable cyberspace. The need for computer security is fueled by threats and hackers who seek to compromise important data and entire systems.

However, not all attacks are the same; there are three recognized types of hackers:

• White Hat Hacker. These hackers are professionals who legally break into protected systems in order to test their security. These characters are ‘ethical’ hackers who seek to detect vulnerabilities in networks and systems before a malicious hacker does.
• Black Hat Hacker. These hackers break into systems and networks for malicious purposes, such as spreading malware, stealing data, or spying on systems.
• Grey Hat Hackers. Grey Hat Hackers also expose vulnerabilities and report problems to their owners. But, these users have never asked permission to perform the attacks. They usually carry out unauthorized testing and then ask for a reward for their achievements.

The biggest threat, clearly, lies with the black hat hackers. Not only do they access networks and systems without permission, but they also carry out phishing, ransomware, and crypto jacking attacks in order to profit.

The world of digital security is evolving and changing all the time, so it’s important to understand the state of the art in protecting your computers.

In order to illustrate the current state of computer security today we will share 21 statistics about the subject, crucial to understand it:

Computer Security

• 70% of organizations believe that their security risk will increase considerably by 2017. (Ponemon Institute)
• It is estimated that by 2020, the number of passwords used will grow to 300 billion. (SC Media)
• 43% of cyber attacks affect small businesses. (Small Business Trends)
• 230,000 new malware are produced every day, and this number is predicted to grow. (Panda Security)
• 90% of hackers cover their tracks using encryption. (Vanson Bourne)
• It takes a company 6 months, or 197 days, to detect a security breach. (ZD Net)
• Windows is the operating system most attacked by hackers, Android comes second. (Computer World)
• There were more than 3 million crypto jackings between January and May 2018. (Quick Heal)
• The number of crypto jacking malware variants grew from 8 in 2017 to 25 in May 2018. (Quick Heal)

Costs of Information Security

• The IT security market will grow by 8.7% in 2019, reaching $124 billion. (Computer Weekly)
• The total cost of a successful cyber attack is over $5 million, or $301 per employee. (Ponemon)
• The most expensive component of a virtual attack is data loss, which accounts for 43 percent of costs. (Accenture)
• Damage related to cyber attacks is projected to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021. (CyberSecurity Ventures)
• Equifax’s security breach cost the company more than $4 billion. (Time)
• The two most frequent attacks are malware and web-based attacks. Companies spend an estimated $2.4 million on defense. (Accenture)

Ransomware

• Over 4,000 ransomware attacks occur every day. (FBI)
• 75% of ransomware-infected organizations had active protection. (Sophos)
• Global damages related to ransomware attacks will reach $11.5 billion by 2019. (Cybersecurity Ventures)
• It is estimated that there will be a ransomware attack every 14 seconds by the end of 2019. This does not include attacks on individuals, which occur more frequently. (Cybersecurity Ventures)
• 91% of the attacks start with the technique of spear phishing, which aims at violating emails and infecting organizations. (KnowBe4)

Phishing

• A survey of over 1300 IT professionals found that 56% of organizations identified phishing as their greatest IT security risk.
• 76% of businesses reported being victims of phishing attacks in the last year.
• Verizon reports that U.S. users open 30% of all malicious emails and 12% of them click the dangerous link.
• Kaspersky’s has detected 246,231,645 phishing attempts in 2017, and showed an increase of 91 million over 2016.

Conclusions

Understanding the current state of computer security is important in order to protect your computers, your family and your business from digital threats. The statistics we share will help you see, despite all the measures taken, professionals and businesses are failing to contain the spread of these attacks.

So… what can you do to protect your computers? The first step is to be educated and keep up to date on the latest threats. The next step is to invest in security and stay one step ahead of attackers!