Hacking Statistics

In numerous movies, you might have seen that some notorious people sit on their high-end laptops and type lines of code quite vigorously. There is some neon green coding done while techy music plays in the background, and voila! Banks get hacked, or doors get opened remotely, or servers crash. While the movie scenes are of course exaggerated, but not all part of it is fictional.

This age of information is under constant threat of data leaks which can cause havoc in economies and unsettle governments. This is an age of cyber warfare and hacking has become a lethal weapon.

Hacking statistics that we have collected for you below will help you see the severe effects this cyber-attack tool can have.

On this page, you’ll find:

• Hacking Cases Stats
• Hacking Financial Losses Stats
• Hacking Vulnerabilities Stats
• Hacking by Phishing Stats
• Hacking Cybersecurity Stats

Key Hacking Statistics

Here are the top stats from the article below:

• On average 30,000 new websites are hacked every day. (Forbes)

• There is a cyber-attack every 39 seconds on the internet. (University Of Maryland)

• By 2021, a business will fall victim to ransomware every 11 seconds. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• An average data breach costs public companies $116m (Compliance Week)

• The total costs of a data breach were the highest in the world for US companies amounting to $4.13 million. (PurpleSec)

• About 60 million Americans fall victim to identity theft every year. This costs them around $15 billion annually. (Norton Security)

• The number of phishing websites has increased by over 130.5% in the last 3 years. (Google Transparency Report)

• 73% of black hat hackers claim traditional firewall and antivirus security is irrelevant or obsolete. (Thycotic)

• A 2020 report found that it took an average of 280 days to even identify a breach. (IBM)

• There will be a shortage of 3.5 million cybersecurity specialists on the market by 2021. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

Hacking Cases Stats

The number of hacking cases reported under cybercrime investigation authorities is increasing at an alarming rate day by day. This is a severe problem faced by companies and governments across the world. Here are the top stats that will report to you the frequency and number of cyber-attacks that take place in the U.S and across the globe. A bulk of hacking attacks go unreported, so the actual figures are much larger than those shown. Nobody knows by how much.

• A 2019 report found that security breaches had increased by 67% over the last five years. (Accenture)

• A study found that 18.5 million records were compromised every day in 2018. This is equivalent to 214 records every second. (Breach Level Index)

• On average 30,000 new websites are hacked every day. (Forbes)

• Online threats have increased as much as six times their usual levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Info Security Magazine)

• The FBI reported a 300% increase in the number of cybercrimes in 2020, from about 1,000 cases to between 3,000 and 4,000 cases each day. (The Hill)

• 123456 was the most exploited password followed by 123456789. (Nordpass)

• Among 4,000 organizations across the US, UK, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands a study found that 61% reported a cybersecurity attack or breach in 2019. (WebARX)

• There is a cyber-attack every 39 seconds on the internet. (University Of Maryland)

• By 2021, a business will fall victim to ransomware every 11 seconds. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• With 255 targeted attacks over two years, the USA is the most attacked country in the world. (Symantec)

Hacking Financial Losses Stats

Hacking is such a significant threat to enterprises because almost all of the attacks are financially motivated. Either there is a direct attack on the big bucks or stolen data is sold for tons of money. Attacked companies suffer substantial monetary losses. With different processes moving online, the number of attacks is also rising. Below are the stats that show the losses incurred due to cyber-attacks and hacking attempts on the company’s money or data.

• An average data breach costs public companies $116m. (Compliance Week)

• There is an average fall of 7.27% seen in shares after a data breach. (Comparitech)

• The total cost for cybercrime committed globally will reach $6 trillion by 2021. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• People over 60 lost $649 million due to cybercrime, more than any other age group. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)

• Hackers earned $1.3 billion in a year through business email compromise. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)

• About 60 million Americans fall victim to identity theft every year. This costs them around $15 billion annually. (Norton Security)

• The total number of reported cases of cybercrime fell from 61% to 39% in 2019 in the USA, however, the median cost of an attack went up from $10,000 to $57,000. (Hiscox)

• The average cost of a malware attack on a company is $2.4 million. (PurpleSec)

• 9.7 Million Records healthcare records were compromised in September 2020 alone. (HIPAA Journal)

• The total costs of a data breach were the highest in the world for US companies amounting to $4.13 million. (PurpleSec)

Hacking Vulnerabilities Stats

Ever wondered how the guys in the movie or the hackers in real life get the job done? How do they get in systems and break protections and firewalls set up by the victims? Though the process is too complicated and depends on a case-to-case basis, something that they all have in common is exploiting vulnerabilities in websites, software, or protection systems. So let us take a look at how frequent and readily available these vulnerabilities are, or are they?

• 73% of black hat hackers claim traditional firewall and antivirus security is irrelevant or obsolete. (Thycotic)

• 47% of all hacked websites contain at least one backdoor (a vulnerability that allowed hackers access to the website). (Sucuri)

• In 2019, over 56% of all CMS applications were out of date when hacks happened. (Sucuri)

• A study held in 2019 found that hackers could attack users in 9 out of 10 web applications they analyzed. Also, breach of sensitive data was a threat in 68% of web applications. (PT Security)

• In a survey, 46% of web applications were found to have critical vulnerabilities, and a whopping 87% had “medium” security vulnerabilities.  (Acunetix)

• In a report that analyzed about 4000 breaches, it was found that 70% of the breaches were financially motivated while 43% of the breaches involved exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications. (Verizon)

• Statistics on hacking show 1 in 36 mobile phones had high-risk apps in 2018. (Symantec)

• On average, only 5% of a company’s folders are properly protected. (Varonis)

• 47% of all vulnerable devices on home networks are cameras. (ZDNet)

• 75% of the number of digital agencies and freelancers who use WordPress are worried about website security which is more than the general average of 70%. (WebARX)

Hacking by Phishing Stats

What does this funny-sounding term “phishing” mean? Phishing is the deceitful endeavor to obtain sensitive information or data by impersonating oneself as a reliable entity in digital communication. It is the most used trick by hackers to trap their prey and then suck out whatever information, or money, they can out of it.   Below are the figures that will provide you with details about how much this method is used and how easily it gets hackers what they want.

• 56% of IT decision-makers say targeted phishing attacks are their top security threat. (PurpleSec)

• 65% of all targeted attacks happen with spear phishing. (Symantec)

• The number of phishing websites has increased by over 130.5% in the last 3 years. (Google Transparency Report)

• 30% of phishing messages get opened by targeted users and 12% of those users click on the malicious attachment or link. (PurpleSec)

• 53% of IT and security professionals say they have experienced a targeted phishing attack since 2017. (PurpleSec)

• Only 3% of professionals report phishing attacks to their management. (ThinkRed)

• In 2020, 81% of phishing attacks on mobiles were initiated outside emails. (Wandera)

• 50% of phishing sites now use HTTPS. (PurpleSec)

• The number of phishing emails containing a form of ransomware grew to 97.25% since 2016. (Barkley)

• The volume of email fraud that organizations receive has increased 8% year-over-year. (PurpleSec)

Hacking Cybersecurity Stats

With all the stats we have seen so far, we can guess how grim a threat hovers over all the transactions, be it of information or money, that takes place online. Thus, having robust protection is of utmost importance, and that’s where cybersecurity comes in. It is one of the hottest domains for employment and income generation. Companies pay huge sums of money to protect their data and money. Here are the top cybersecurity stats which will prove the point stated above.

• Hackers created over 65 million new malware in the first quarter of 2019 alone. (McAfee)

• A Kaspersky report says that its platform identified 24,610,126 “unique malicious objects” in 2019, a 14% increase over 2018. (CSO)

• A 2020 report found that it took an average of 280 days to even identify a breach. (IBM)

• Approximately $6 trillion is expected to be spent globally on cybersecurity by 2021(Forbes)

• More than 500,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are unfilled, and postings are up 74% over the past five years. (Net Sparker)

•  Cybersecurity engineers are some of the highest-paid positions started at $140K annually on average. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• More than 77% of organizations do not have a Cyber Security Incident Response Plan (Information Management)

• Global spending on cybersecurity exceeded $1 trillion for the period between 2017 and 2021. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• There will be a shortage of 3.5 million cybersecurity specialists on the market by 2021. (CyberSecurity Ventures)

• 62% of cybersecurity professionals say that their teams are understaffed. (ISACA)

Conclusion

Information is one of the most critical assets in today’s time and there is a constant tussle between those who want to protect it and those who want to harness it for monetary benefits or other reasons.  Cyberwarfare is this ongoing fight that takes place digitally away from the limelight of news and the general public’s vision. Still, it’s as dangerous as a regular war, if not more. Keeping your data safe with strong passwords and multi-factor authentication methods is as important as locking your house when going out.

We hope the stats broadened your understanding and knowledge of the topic, and probably, you’ll appreciate the importance of the scene the next time you see a hacker hacking into a system in a movie.