When it comes to cyber security statistics, most people would be horrified if they knew just how many cyber security attacks per day are attempted. Of course, not all are successful in breaching your information security defenses. Still, the cyber security statistics for 2020 demonstrate just how likely is a cyber attack against you and your organization.
The cyber security statistics by year show that cybercrime has been increasing ever since the stats were first recorded. The cyber security facts are that the number of cyber attacks per day continues to increase. Cyber attack statistics don’t give a true picture of how many hack attempts a day are successful because most organizations don’t like to publicize the weakness of their information security. So we don’t really know what percentage of successful cyber attacks happen. But we do have an indication of the number of attacks from the data collected by firewalls, anti-virus tools, IT security stats, and the providers of internet and network services. However, you can be sure that the cybersecurity facts will be that the rate of success is increasing in line with the number of attacks.
This article will give you an insight into the state of cybercrime in the world today, looking at some of the statistics of hacking and other pertinent information security facts and figures for 2020.
The headlines
Here are some of the headlines for the global cyber war statistics in 2020. Most analysts expect 2021 to be worse.
- Every 40 seconds, a new cyber attack starts.
- Ransomware attacks are increasing at a rate of 400% year on year.
- Over 25,000 different malicious applications are detected and blocked every day.
- Each day hackers attack over 30,000 websites.
- Over 65% of organizations worldwide have had at least one cyber attack against them.
- Email is responsible for propagating 95% of all malware.
- 43% of all cyber attacks are made on small businesses.
The most illuminating of the cybercrime facts is that there is now a whole sector in IT that specializes in cyber attacks. Cyber crime is no longer just the preserve of curious and clever individuals sitting in their bedrooms. It is now an organized industry with big money behind it, some of it coming from nation-states and large corporations. To counter these cybercrime facts, information security and cyber security teams in many organizations have some of the largest budgets in IT, well over 50% of the total. Most governments are now heavily investing in developing and operating defenses against cyber crime, recognizing the economic risks of ignoring the threats.
Some cyber security statistics
Here are just a few of the cybersecurity stats for 2020 that demonstrate the scale of the challenge to information security:
- 300,000 thousand new pieces of malware are created every day. These are designed to steal data and include spyware, adware, Trojans, and viruses.
- Ransomware cost businesses a total of $20 billion in 2020. There were nearly 550,000 cyber attacks per day involving ransomware. The average amount demanded was nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
- Between 9th March 2020 and 6th April 2020, hackers registered over 300,000 websites that used coronavirus-related keywords to lure victims. Many of these used web-spamming techniques to place them earlier in search engine results than non-malicious sites.
- 70% of all data breaches globally are financially motivated. This is increasing year on year. Nearly all of today’s cyber criminals want to make money, and some make quite a lot of it. Each year the total amount generated by cybercrime is over $1.5 trillion.
- 25% of all data breaches are motivated by espionage or stealing commercial information.
- 2020 saw an increase in U.S. healthcare data breaches of 25% over 2019. Healthcare organizations reported 642 large data breaches. This is three times higher than the number reported in 2010.
- By 2022 worldwide spending on just the cyber security part of information security is expected to reach $133 billion.
- In 2020 over 20% of organizations worldwide have experienced an attack on Internet of Things (IoT) devices. There are now more than 8 billion connected IoT devices. As well as use in domestic appliances, they are also widely used in healthcare to provide real-time services to patients.
- 63% of all data breaches in organizations are caused by compromised usernames and passwords. Surveys continue to highlight that in organizations without strong password control, users will use weak and predictable passwords such as “Letme1n” and “QWERTYUIOP.” Additionally, surveys have shown that over 70% of people use the same password on multiple platforms and websites, making it very easy for hackers to compromise information security across a number of systems after a successful attack on one of them.
- The average time taken to detect a breach in information security is 7 months. Hackers today are skilled in developing and deploying malicious code that is difficult to detect. When coupled with the IT security facts that patching of systems and applications isn’t always promptly done and low-cost anti-virus solutions are often preferred against effective ones, this means that hackers can steal data for a long time.
- In 2020 there were 23,000 denial of service (DoS or DDoS) attacks every 24 hours, disrupting the business of the target organization and attempting to extort money to stop the attack.
Frequently asked questions:
Hers are some questions that are often asked about the statistics of hacking attacks:
How many victims of cyber crime are there each day? There are about 4000 cyber crime attacks every day in the U.S. alone. Globally 30,000 websites are hacked daily.
What is the biggest hack in history? The largest data breach ever is believed to have been in 2013 when cybercriminals stole the credentials of over 3 billion Yahoo account holders. The company revealed in 2017 that the information security for every one of their customers had been breached, including users of the Tumblr and Flickr photo storage services.
What is the most dangerous cyber attack? The most dangerous cyber attacks tend to be on governments and healthcare organizations. In 1999 when Jonathan James hacked into the US Department of Defense and NASA, which compromised national security. He stole software worth $1.7 million and made the agency shut down for weeks. In 2017 a cyber attack using the Wannacry ransomware virus breached the information security of the National Health Service in England for days, infected over 30,000 computers, and resulting in canceled patient appointments and a huge financial bill for restoring the hacked systems.
Which organizations are attacked the most by ransomware? According to cyber attack stats, healthcare, financial, government, and retail organizations are most targeted by ransomware attacks.
How many people are affected by cyber crimes? In the U.S. approximately 90,000 people per month are affected by cyber crimes.
What is the most dangerous cyber crime? Ransomware is probably the most dangerous of the cyber attacks. Because ransomware can be easily delivered using seemingly innocent emails, it represents a very high risk to every organization. If the hacker manages to encrypt the victim’s servers, data storage, and backup devices, it can be almost impossible to restore them. This would stop the organization from operating until the ransom is paid and the hacker releases the locked devices. Paying the ransom could easily wipe out the company’s finances, and it is increasingly difficult to get any business insurance that covers this type of loss. There is also no guarantee that the hacker will unlock the systems after payment has been made. The hacked organization could easily go out of business after an attack. If the target is a government, the impact could be massive, preventing key services from operating for some time.
What language do most hackers use? Hackers use many different languages, choosing them carefully to suit the type of attack and the characteristics of their target’s computer systems and network security stats. This is because different languages are better for different purposes. Cyber war statistics show that many hackers use Python, C#, C++, Java, Javascript, HTML, PHP, Ruby, and SQL.
What country gets hacked the most? The U.S currently has the highest rate of cyber crime, over 23.6% more than any other country. The country that is most vulnerable to cyber attack is Indonesia, followed by China and Thailand. It is thought that more than 100 of the Thai government websites have been hacked and that 85% of these are used by hackers to distribute malware around the world.
Which country has the best cyber security? The cyber security statistics 2020 show that the country believed to have the best cybersecurity is Denmark. This is based on a survey that analyzed the percentage of devices infected with malware, the number of successful attacks, and the robustness of cybersecurity and information security legislation. Other top-performing countries include Sweden, Germany, Ireland, and Japan.
Which country has the worst cyber security? The country with the worst level of cyber security according to cyber security stats 2020, is Algeria. It is the country with the poorest cyber security legislation and is not well prepared for cyber attacks. Other countries with low levels of cybersecurity include Tajikstan, Syria, and Iran.
Conclusion
Cyber security is often seen as something that only big organizations need to do something about. Governments, financial institutions, and major technology companies have been managing cyber security for some time. Today, every organization or individual who uses IT in any form is at risk from cyber criminals and needs good cyber security. The hackers want your data. The hackers want your money. They know ways to get past poor information security and cyber security defenses. The threats are real; the hackers are out there probing systems every minute of every day. Defenses that you put in place a few years ago and haven’t updated since are now useless. The cyber security statistics 2020 show the scale of the problem last year. This year it will only get worse, so if you want to maintain the security of your data and information, do something now about your cyber security , before it’s too late.
