25 Cybersecurity facts you should now

Cybersecurity is becoming all the rage in 2020. While many organisations are making the right decision of prioritising cybersecurity, now more than ever, the cybersecurity industry itself is booming leaps and bounds. The studies behind cybersecurity crimes, attacks, spending, threats show that the cybersecurity crisis is gripping the digital world at an alarming rate and many are finally rising up to this wake up call.

The staggering losses due to cybercrime are opening a lot of eyes in the corporate and economic world. Governments are spending more on cybersecurity education. Companies are hiring cybersecurity professionals in C-level roles. Phishing remains a major threat to companies. Here are a lot more such facts that will offer you many insights about the cybersecurity world.

Phishing facts:

1. More than half of IT executives believe that phishing is a major threat to their business.
2. 1 in every 3 phishing emails gets opened in the United States.
3. More than 80% of cybersecurity incidents are due to phishing attacks.
4. Every 60 seconds, $17,700 is lost due to phishing attacks.
5. Almost two-third of phishing attempts involve spear phishing.
6. More than 60,000 phishing sites were reported in just a month this year.

Data breach facts:

• Data breaches cost a company $3.92 million (including everything) on an average.
• 60% of data breaches happen because the victim was running outdated software, meaning that a security patch was available but not installed on the target device.
• Small businesses account for 43% of data breach victims. Human error accounts for 95% of data breaches.
• It takes more than 6 months (206 days on average last year) to identify a data breach.
• A data breach leads to a decline in the company’s share price by 7.27% on average. 

Cybersecurity job facts:

1. The unemployment rate among cybersecurity professionals is 0%.
2. The average salary for an entry-level cybersecurity professional is $74,340 per annum in the United States.
3. In India, the average salary of a professional trained in CHFI course is ₹21.4lakhs.
4. 2 in every 5 IT leaders find cybersecurity as the most ‘difficult to fill’ job.

Other facts:

• Hackers attack every 39 seconds, i.e. there is an attack every 2,244 times a day on average.
• Emails account for 92-94% of malware delivery medium.
• Employees have access to 17% of all sensitive files.
• In 2019, every employee could access 17 million files and 1.21 million folders on average.
• More than half of the companies found that every employee of theirs had access to at least 1,000 sensitive files.
• Certified Ethical Hacker certification (CEH) is the most popular cybersecurity certificate courses currently. Malware can cost a company $2.6 million.
• On average, IoT (Internet of Things) devices suffer 5,200 cyber attacks every month.
• More than 50% of the companies are investing over 1 million USD per year on cybersecurity.

The good news is that cybersecurity is being taken seriously now, at least by enterprises and institutions, if not by individuals. As long as the people in power and influence keep making the right decisions, the global cybersecurity stance will keep on improving. It is been more than evident now that the major reason for this alarming rate of cybercrime is nothing but the lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals, proper cybersecurity education and basic awareness in individuals. The numbers for this year are already skyrocketing and they will keep on rising until people start giving cybersecurity its due attention. As it is said, cybersecurity is in everyone’s hands and everyone can limit cybercrime by just educating themselves and applying that knowledge in their daily digital lives.