We still don't have an end to cybercrime attacks.
In fact, according to estimates from Statista’s Cybersecurity Outlook, the global cost of cybercrime is expected to surge in the next five years, rising from $8.44 trillion in 2022 to $23.84 trillion by 2027.
Cybercrime is defined by Cyber Crime Magazine as:
"the damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm.”
Why is this happening?
As more and more people turn online, whether, for work or their personal lives, there are more potential opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit.
At the same time, attacker techniques are becoming more advanced, with more tools available to help scammers.
The coronavirus pandemic saw a particular shift in cyber attacks, as Statista’s Outlook analysts explain:
“The COVID-19 crisis led to many organizations facing more cyberattacks due to the security vulnerability of remote work as well as the shift to virtualized IT environments, such as the infrastructure, data, and network of cloud computing.”
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The costliest types of cybercrime
According to a report released by the FBI, losses to cybercrime increased significantly in 2021.
The losses - which are located mainly in the U.S. but were collected around the world - are estimated at $6.9 billion last year, up from $4.2 billion in 2020.
The costliest crime recorded by the FBI was business email compromise and personal email compromise, which targets businesses and individuals that engage in wire transfers by breaking into their emails. In 2021, almost $2.4 billion were lost this way.
Cyber crimes targeting individuals were also very costly in the U.S. and around the world, with investment, romance, real estate and tech support scams carrying a combined price tag of more than $3 billion.
Investment fraud was also the fastest-growing cybercrime category in 2020, becoming 333 per cent more costly, followed by personal data breaches and tech support scams.
Out of all victims recorded by the FBI, 59 per cent were located in the U.S., 38 per cent in the UK and 3 per cent elsewhere.
Guest authors are Katharina Buchholz and Anna Fleck of Statista. You can read the original article here.
