15 Important Cybersecurity Statistics in 2021

COVID-19

1. Cybercrime is up 600% due to the COVID-19 pandemic (PurpleSec)

Many cybercriminals are now posing as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or World Health Organization (WHO to get access to trick recipients into taking actions such as clicking on suspicious links or downloading malicious attachments.

2. Remote work has increased the average cost of a data breach by $137,000. (IBM)

Employees do not have the same level of security at home as they would working in the office which make them more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

3. More than half a million Zoom user accounts were compromised and sold on the dark web. (CPO Magazine)

With Zoom being the leading video conferencing platform for organizations, cyber criminals have been targeting users of the platform.

Data Breach Statistics

4. There are 11,762 recorded breaches between January 1, 2005, and May 31, 2020. (ID Theft Resource Center)

That’s 11,762 too many. This number is expected to increase rapidly every year.

5. In 2020, the average time to identify a breach was 207 days. (IBM)

“There are two types of companies: those who have been hacked, and those who don’t yet know they have been hacked.” – John Chambers, CEO of Cisco.

6. 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses (Cyberint)

Cyber criminals do not just target large enterprise organizations, but small businesses as well. Despite the size of your organization, if you have valuable information, there will be hackers looking to steal it.

7. $3.86 million is the global average cost of a data breach (IBM)

The costs of recovery from a data breach are often multiple times more expensive than the costs of properly training staff and enforcing up-to-date best practices for security.

Causes of Cybersecurity Incidents

8. 95% of cybersecurity breaches are a result of human error (Cyberint)

Employees need to be provided with proper training and the appropriate tools to reduce the changes of cybersecurity breaches from happening.

9. On average, only 5% of companies’ folders are properly protected. (Varonis)

That means 95% of folders are not. If information inside of your folders are confidential, they should be protected at all times: in transit, and at rest.

10. 94% of malware is delivered via email. (CSO Online)

The number of phishing attacks are on the rise. Cyber criminals impersonate trustworthy entities in order to steal personally identifiable information.

Cybersecurity Governance Statistics

11. Only 16% of executives say their organizations are well prepared to deal with cyber risk. (McKinsey & Company)

Growth in most industries depend on technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and the internet of things (IOT). The adoption of these new technologies often leads to greater risk and many executives find it challenging to keep up with cyber risk management.

12. Over 77% of organizations do not have a cyber security incident response plan (Cyberint)

Many of these organizations do not fear cyber security incidents at all because they’re either “too small” to be targeted or don’t think it will ever happen to them.

Healthcare Cybersecurity Statistics

13. 89% of healthcare organizations experienced a data breach in the past two years. (IDX)

The healthcare industry is the number one most targeted industry for cybercrime. Cyber criminals are attracted to patient health information because it contains valuable data such as the patient’s full name, address, health card number, social insurance number, and financial information.

15. At an average of $7.13 million, Healthcare cybersecurity breaches cost the most of any other industry. (IBM)

Experts believe that if proper security measures are not taken, the cybercrime will have a devastating financial impact on the healthcare sector in the next few years.