Malicious softwares, malwares, data breaches and other cybersecurity threats have become an illegal industry worth billions. Cybercriminals are getting innovative with their hacking techniques to take advantage of all the money there is to be made.
Most people and small businesses don’t think that they are vulnerable to these threats and hackers only target large institutions and global businesses. Here’s a truth: Nearly every electronic device can be hacked and SMEs are the bigger target for all the cybercriminals.
Here are some outrageous and shocking hacking statistics to illustrate the impact of hackers’ activities in modern society –
1) Cybercrime is more profitable than the global illegal drug trade
Cybercriminals have earned a total of $600 billion in 2018, compared to the profit from the illegal drug industry that amounts to around $400 billion annually.
2) Hackers steal 75 records every second
Breaches are rarer – each breach allows for a lot of records to be stolen. Cybersecurity facts show us the average number of 75 records stolen per second.
3) There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds
By the time the average person clicks a selfie, the next hacker attack has already taken place.
4) 66% of businesses attacked by hackers weren’t confident they could recover
Most businesses are not really prepared for a cyber attack. 75% of all businesses don’t even have a formal cyber attack response plan in place.
5) Russian hackers can infiltrate a computer network in 18 minutes
Making Dalgona coffee takes longer than that.
Russian hackers are really smart when it comes to infiltrating a computer network. Next are the North Korean hackers, who just need about two and a half hours more.
6) You can purchase a consumer account for $1 on the dark market
Billions of records have been stolen due to data breaches and information leaks. This created an abundance of credentials for sale on the dark web. Bank accounts still cost more – between $3 and $24 a piece. Most other online accounts cost $1 or less.
7) More than 6,000 online criminal marketplaces sell ransomware products and services
A total of 45,000 products are on sale at these online criminal marketplaces. If we add all non-ransomware products and services, the number will easily exceed 1 million. Still need a reason to hire an effective cyber solution provider?
8) Hackers create 300,000 new pieces of malware daily
Hackers rarely sleep. They spend all their time finding new ways to steal confidential information.
9) 65% of companies have over 1,000 stale user accounts
Stale accounts, bots, fake accounts, and outdated permissions are targets for exploitation and malicious use. Hackers desire data, and they can get it by hijacking a stale account.
10) 75% of all attacked businesses reported fraudulent emails
Fraudulent emails or Phishing strategies are still in demand and a hacker’s favourite tool to obtain private information or credentials.
11) Companies protect only 3% of their folders
These are some mistakes that can cost you your whole savings. 88% of companies with over 1 million folders have over 100,000 folders open to everyone, which certainly makes a cybercriminal’s job easier.
12) Up until March 2019, more than 14 billion data records had been lost or stolen
Only 4% of these breaches were Secure Breaches, which means the data was encrypted and therefore rendered useless. The exact number as of March 27, 2019, was 14,717,618,286.
13) The cost of data breaches will increase to $150 million in 2020
More and more businesses get interconnected, which means more targets become available. The cost of resolving these data breaches might end up exhausting your company’s financial resources.
14) Yahoo’s data breach – 3 billion compromised accounts
The most significant data breach in history. In 2016 Yahoo publicly stated that 500 million users’ accounts were compromised in 2014. Later the company declared there was another breach in 2013 with another 1 billion compromised accounts. Finally, in 2017, Yahoo admitted the whole truth – the attacks had compromised a total of 3 billion user accounts.
15) For as low as $1.25 you can get a Netflix account
The dark market is another world of its own. For a small fee, you’ll receive the email and password of someone’s Netflix account. Many people’s credentials have been hacked or stolen for this purpose.
16) 92% of ATMs are vulnerable to hacker attacks
There are several ways to hack an ATM. If your card data is stolen, then 100% of ATMs would be vulnerable to this kind of attack.
This is one of the funniest hacking facts you need to know. In 2013 Donald Trump’s Twitter account was hacked, and the hacker posted some Lil’ Wayne lyrics.
Not all of the hacks were malicious, some had a wicked sense of humour. In 2012, Iran’s nuclear facilities were under cyberattack. Two workers at the nuclear facilities were forced to listen to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck repeatedly at full volume. Even if you’re a fan, it can still annoy you at some point.
19) Friendless Samy
MySpace was a social network like Facebook, only cooler. In 2005 Samy Kamkar took down MySpace. However, Samy didn’t want to shut down MySpace. All he wanted was some friends. To achieve his dream, he wrote a worm exploiting a vulnerability in MySpace. Infected profiles became “friends” to Samy’s page. And then their friends as well and so on. It took Samy a day to get a million friends on his page. MySpace couldn’t take it.
20) There will be 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs openings in 2021
Cybersecurity Ventures expects that cybercrime will more than triple the number of job openings over the next five years.
Hackers exploit vulnerabilities. They are curious about the world and themselves. Some of them describe hacking as an adrenaline rush.
All the hackers aren’t vicious and carry out cyberattacks for monetary purposes. The world of hackers isn’t just about money. Most of them do it for fun or the “adrenaline rush,” but we can’t turn a blind eye towards the vicious ones. Curiosity and ethics play a large role, as well. It is important to keep your data safe because you don’t know how hackers are planning to use it.
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