10 Powerful Cyber Security Statistics

Computers, information technology, and the internet has evolved drastically over the past years. Although these world-changing advancements are to be celebrated, with them comes an evolution in cybercrime and cyberattacks. Below are 10 staggering cybersecurity statistics that could help you better protect your home, business, and mobile networks.

1 million new cybersecurity job openings in 2016

The cybersecurity market is increasing, with an expected growth of $105 billion by 2020. Postings for cybersecurity jobs are up 74% on the past five years due to the increase in threats. A role in cybersecurity can see many enjoying elevated job progression, job security, and a six-figure salary – with wages 9% higher than pay packets of other IT workers.

75% of mobile apps would fail a basic security test

Whether on Android, iOS, or Windows systems, the majority of smartphone apps do not have basic security protocols in place. Research shows that three quarters of mobile security breaches in 2017 will be caused by mobile application misconfigurations, as opposed to technical and malicious attacks. It has been suggested that static application security testing and dynamic application security testing providers need to adapt and modify their tests to include mobile technologies.

Only 38% of global organisations claim they are prepared to handle a sophisticated cyberattack

Cyberattackers now pose a greater and more complex threats to businesses than they did years ago, Sophisticated attacks mean a simple anti-virus solution is laughable protection. Businesses need to ensure they have critical and advanced security in place to match the vicious attacks of cyber criminals.

The top three cyberthreat concerns in 2016 are social engineering, insider threats, and advanced persistent threats

Have you ever had a phone call from your ‘bank’ asking your for personal information? Hopefully, you didn’t give the information up as it was most likely a criminal. Social engineering is when criminals try and manipulate individuals into releasing confidential information by posing as a legitimate company. By giving up bank details, passwords, or computer access, you could be allowing sinister bodies to install malicious software onto our PC, from where they can take control and access all your private information.

You cannot always trust everybody you work with. Insider threats are malicious activities carried out on a company by people from the inside. Ex-employees, current employees, business associates, and contractors have all been caught carrying out malicious attacks on computer systems and security networks.

In contrast, an APT (advanced persistent threat) is when an unauthorised individual gains access to a network and stays undetected for months, or even years. Those carrying our APTs do not want to damage a network, they want to steal confidential data from it.

In the first 6 months of 2016, McAfee scanned 150M apps from various app stores, detecting 37 million apps containing malware

Malware is a collective term used to describe a wide variety of malicious or intrusive software. Viruses, worms, spyware, trojan horses, scareware, adware, and ransomware are all malicious programmes that can be implemented in code, scripts, and active content.

An app for Android, Super-Bright LED Flashlight, has been downloaded 6 million times. However, when users launch the app, it forwards them to a webpage claiming their device is infected with malware and their batteries do not work. The page then suggests to download an anti-virus app. The app requests ‘super user’ access, giving the app greater control over your smartphone than safe apps.

1-in-5 Android users have experienced a mobile threat

Any mobile device that accesses the internet via browsers or apps is open to attack. The Android operating system is very popular with consumers and, therefore, cybercriminals. Wherever the market is, the bad guys will follow. It doesn’t help that downloading malware onto an Android device is particularly easy.

Malware attacks are the biggest threat to Android users, with trojan horses and key loggers being the most present. Users should keep themselves safe by:

• Keep all apps updated for security
• Regularly run anti-malware programmes
• Only share private information on secure websites
• Use only secure or private connections

In 2015, 169 million personal records were exposed from 781 publicised breaches across the business, education, financial, government, and medical sectors in America

The business sector was the most affected, with 40% of the breaches. Second was medical with 35.5% and third was the financial sector – 9.1%. Of the 781 breaches hackers were responsible for 37.9%, followed by employee negligence and error at 14.9%. Internet exposure, accidental email exposure, and physical theft made up the rest of the data breach reasons.

70% of cyberattacks use a combination of phishing and hacking techniques that involve a secondary victim

Phishing and hacking techniques have been around for years but now cybercriminals are creating hybrids of the two to overcome new defences. A blend of hacking and phishing is the popular method of choice, along with social engineering. However, experts suggest that a number of these attacks are successful due to lack of employee training and failure to update security software and hardware.

40% of companies in 2016 are expecting a data breach caused by malicious insiders

Ignore the outside cybercriminals; 40% of organisations are expecting data breaches from those in-house. Whether through malicious employee behaviour or lack of awareness on best cybersecurity practices, companies feel there is a looming threat from within.

In the next 3 years the global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach £2.1 Trillion

Many are referring to cybercrime as an epidemic when considering the staggering costs businesses are forking out as a result of attacks. IBM’s CEO, Ginni Rometty, believes that cybercrime is the greatest threat to every country in the world. Between 2013 and 2015 cybercrime costs quadrupled and this is expected to be echoed in the coming three years.

Sources:
https://www.symantec.com/content/dam/symantec/docs/reports/istr-21-2016-en.pdf
https://swimlane.com/10-hard-hitting-cyber-security-statistics/
http://www.isaca.org/pages/2016-cybersecurity-snapshot.aspx
http://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/reports/rp-mobile-threat-report-2016.pdf
https://www.ekransystem.com/en/blog/cyber-security-statistics-2016