30+ Alarming Cyber Attack Statistics & Numbers

One of the scariest cyber attack statistics is that almost half of a million pieces of malware are registered every day. The chances are that one of them has your name on it.

So, what can we do to improve our safety?

Knowing your enemy is a good starting point and these important statistics will help you do that.

You will see how many attacks are caused by exploiting weak spots in your system and how many rely on tricking you with more old-fashioned tactics.

General Cyber Attack Statistics

1. Hackers attack our devices every 39 seconds.

(James Clark School of Engineering)

A recent study by the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland informed us of this alarming data. This is one of the first attempts at quantifying the nearly constant rate of online attacks.

2. On average, each computer is attacked 2,244 times a day.

(James Clark School of Engineering)

This amounts to more than 819,000 annually. Luckily, even with a large number of cyber attacks per year, most of them are unsuccessful. Michel Cukier, Clark School assistant professor of mechanical engineering and his two assistants came up with this figure. They learned that most attacks involved relatively unsophisticated “dictionary scripts,” or a brute force attempt at logging in with common usernames and passwords.

3. There are around 6 billion internet users.

(Cybersecurity Ventures)

This is about 75% of the total world population. With an increasing number of vulnerable individuals, the number of attacks is likely to increase as well. What’s more, by 2030, the number of internet users is estimated to grow to over 7.5 billion. This will, no doubt, have a great impact on cyber crime statistics worldwide.

4. In 2020, there were roughly 200 billion connected devices.

(The Washington Times)

That’s an average of 26 smart devices per human being on Earth. The more interconnected we are, the more vulnerable we become to attacks, perhaps in areas we haven’t even thought of yet. 

5. At 36%, the United States ranked first in hosting botnet control servers.

(McAfee)

Botnet network is a group of devices owned by regular people utterly unaware that the hackers installed stealthy malware on their devices. They then control a specific part of the device and use it as they wish while keeping it under the owner’s radar. The cyber attack statistics by country show that more than a third of global botnet servers are in the US, which is significantly higher than Germany with 14%, and Russia and The Netherlands with 5% each.

6. Only 18% of the cybersecurity laws brought forward in the US were passed, the 2019 report shows.

(National Conference of State Legislatures)

Despite severe losses due to cyber attacks, only 52 cybersecurity laws were enacted in 2018 out of 265 introduced. This lack of cybersecurity awareness will cause more trouble in the future, and it certainly helps keep the cybercrime business alive.

7. According to the Russian government cyber attack statistics, the authorities stopped around 25 million cyber attacks during 2018’s FIFA World Cup.

(Infosecurity)

The Russian government apparently saw this coming, and it strengthened the country’s cybersecurity services before the World Cup. This confirms that being over-prepared sometimes works when countering potential threats.

8. A data leak in the Oklahoma government exposed seven years’ worth of FBI investigations.

(Forbes)

These recent attacks are an excellent example of why every company and organization should invest more in protecting archived data. According to US government cyber attack statistics, the oldest stolen data in this breach originated from 1986, and the most recent had been modified in 2016.

9. More than 90% of money mule activity has links to cybercrime activities.

(Europol)

Money muling refers to the transfer of illegally obtained funds between accounts on behalf of others. Most often, the stolen money often comes from phishing, where an attacker sends emails while masquerading as a legitimate business. The second most common source is e-commerce fraud, where a cybercriminal uses stolen online bank or credit card information.

10. For every cybercriminal that gets caught, 10,000 or more go free.

(CSO)

One of the most disturbing facts about cyber attacks is that criminals rarely get caught. If they live in countries with weak or non-existent cybercrime laws like Algeria, cybercriminals can enjoy a passive income and know that they won’t be punished.

Even if a criminal is somehow prosecuted in a court of law, for every person that’s caught, 100 get off scot-free or with a warning. The efforts to battle cybercrime must be global. As long as there is a safe haven for cybercriminals anywhere in the world, they will continue to operate.

Cyber Attacks Statistics 2021

11. 20% of users have done nothing to protect themselves from cybercrime.

(Norton)

Whether they’re not aware or they simply can’t be bothered, some percentage of internet users still do not take any steps to protect themselves from cybercrime. At the same time, about half of the internet users believe that it is very likely that a hacker attack on their computer (56%) or a smartphone (49%) is just a matter of time.

In general, there is a feeling that people don’t take the facts about the rise in cyber attacks in past years too seriously. For instance, 31% of Americans admit that they’ve become addicted to being online and 63% of them use personal information for passwords.

12. Over 12 months, almost 330 million fell victim to cybercrime across 10 countries. 

(Norton)

If you think you’re not at risk, Norton’s 2021 cyber attack research will make you think twice. In the United States alone, nearly 108 million adults were victims of cybercrime. However, the highest rate is 120 million individuals in India.

13. 533 million Facebook users’ account information and personal data have been leaked in April 2021.

(Business Insider)

The stolen data was posted on one hacking forum, and corporate cyber attack statistics show that it included full names, emails, addresses, and other sensitive information of 533 million Facebook users. However, the company officials claim that the data is not new and that the data was scraped before 2019 when the new patch solved security issues that enabled hackers to get the info. 

14. McAfee counted 668 threats/minute on average in 2021.

(McAfee)

McAfee’s statistics show that there is a 3% increase in attacks on its clients in the first quarter of 2021. The company’s cyber attack statistics in the US by industry show that the most significant increases are reported in technology (54%), education (46%), and finance/insurance sectors (41%).

Some sectors were much safer, as they recorded a drop in cyber attacks. For instance, wholesale and retail had a 76% drop, while public administration recorded a 39% decline.

15. Over 2.3 million new malware threats for Android were discovered during Q1 of 2021.

(McAfee)

As scary as that number seems, it’s dwarfed by the overall number of threats detected —over 100 million. Our devices are susceptible to so many threats. Some of them are computer viruses, Trojans, worms, logic bombs, spyware, crypto-mining malware. The scary part is that cyber attacks trends analysis show that there are millions more in development.

16. 65% of cybersecurity professionals say that their company experienced spear phishing in 2021.

(Cybersecurity Insiders)

This kind of phishing method is a sort of high-effort cybercrime compared to malware or ransomware. The attacker needs to research their victim to fool them with a fake email that looks like the real deal.

51% of cybersecurity pros say that, according to their statistics, attacks have increased in the last 12 months. The researchers’ statistics of big business and cyber attack correlation show that 39% of large companies now experience spear-phishing attempts on a weekly basis.

17. Microsoft’s Azure reported a 25% increase in DDoS attacks in 2021.

(Microsoft)

The average daily number of attacks was 1392, which is a significant increase compared to 2020 results. These attacks are typically short, with 74% being under 30 minutes and 87% being one hour or less. The company’s statistics show that only 2% lasted more than 10 hours.

These attacks are increasingly used as smokescreens for ransomware attacks, data theft, IP theft, and an overall desire to deplete a company’s resources.

Business Cyber Security Facts 2020

18. Small businesses represent around 58% of all data breaches.

(Verizon), (CNBC)

According to the latest data, small businesses are the number one mark for hackers. What’s disturbing is that their owners are surprisingly very confident about their ability to handle cyber attacks (59%), even though only 28% of them have plans of action in case they happen.

The average loss per attack is around $188,000. One of the reasons for such small business cyber attack statistics is that the majority of these companies have minimal visibility into their employees’ password practices. It also doesn’t help that some of them can’t afford to have dedicated IT personnel.

However, there’s always a solution that allows small businesses to invest in a dedicated password manager to safeguard the personnel’s data.

19. 73% of internet security professionals believe that the number of attacks through emails is increasing.

(Computer Weekly)

Additionally, 80% of organizations have faced some form of this type of attack in the past year. The increase in attacks that target human beings as weak links instead of the devices they use is due to the strategy’s undeniable success.

Cyber attack statistics by year show that just a small portion of malware is run via a hacker attack that exploits a technical flaw in a system. Social engineering is more resistant to anti-virus and anti-malware software. It is not dependent neither on a specific operating system or any other particular type of device.

20. 85% of all cyber-espionage attacks are state-affiliated.

(Verizon)

The second place goes to nation-state cyber-espionage (8%). Other attacks come from organized crime (4%) and former employees (2%).

Surprisingly, in this age of fierce competition in every sector, where you would expect companies to go above and beyond to find out their competitors’ secrets, market rivals are responsible for only 1% of espionage cyber attacks. That’s two times less than angry former employees.

Cyber Attack Cost Statistics

21. The annual revenue for stolen trade secrets and IP theft is $500 billion.

(Bromium)

This comes from two sources, namely, economic espionage revenue ($200 billion), and the cost of pirated music and films for the US ($300 billion). As we can see from the data breach that hit Sony, Netflix, and HBO, an attack can cost a company, not only their confidential data and future viewership but also their jobs and reputations.

22. Energy utilities will spend $3.2 billion by 2026 for protecting their systems from cyber attacks.

(Smart Energy),( Forbes)

The first successful critical infrastructure cyber attack recorded in the statistics happened in Ukraine in 2015. This suspected state-sponsored attack on the electric grid left 230,000 people in the dark for hours on end. This only fueled fear in other countries.

Digitalization and the internet of things have certainly increased the connectivity of the developed world’s infrastructure.

23. Cybercrime could cost companies up to $5.2 trillion over the next three years.

(Accenture)

The companies’ hesitancy to put up defenses against cybercrime could cost them dearly. The economic cost is probably one of the most obtrusive results of having an insecure network with insecure smart devices.

The financial network cyber attack statistics show that the companies are facing a $5.2 trillion projected loss due to cybercrime. This is 2.8% of revenue loss over the next three years. Industries relying heavily on technology face the most risk at over $753 billion.

24. Only 38% of global organizations are adequately prepared to handle a sophisticated cyber attack.

(Fraud Watch International), (Microsoft)

Although 54% of organizations worldwide have experienced one or more significant cyber attacks in the past year, there is still a lower percentage of prepared organizations. A Frost & Sullivan study commissioned by Microsoft revealed in their cybercrime statistics that Asia Pacific companies can lose as much as $1.745 trillion to cybercrime.

25. According to the cyber attack statistics, the annual revenue for hire-a-hacker services reached $1.6 billion.

(Bromium)

Additionally, the yearly revenue for DDoS attack/botnet for hire is $13 million, and malware-for-hire is around $11 million. Over the years, cybercrime has become a complex, regulated online criminal industry. One can now purchase several zombified computers and malware tools within seconds.

You don’t even have to be actively engaged in cybercrime to make money on it now. Thanks to the IoT growth, criminal activities committed from one’s own bedroom can easily go unpunished, especially if the criminal is located in a country with little to no cybercrime-related laws.

26. 82% believe that new cyber attacks will bring an increased risk of money and data theft.

(World Economic Forum)

Another 80% also expect an increase in operation disruptions, cyber attack stats show. Results like these can hardly be called surprising if you consider the ways connected devices are becoming more and more integrated into our everyday lives.

As many as two-thirds of respondents believe the number of fake news and identity theft cases will increase in the coming years. These views show distrust among the public of their personal safety, not to mention their government’s honesty.

Find out how to deter identity theft.

Cyber Attacks Statistics: 2020 and 2021 Trends

27. The total number of coin miner malware files grew by 117% in Q1 of 2021.

(McAfee)

The coin mining malware is considered the only cyber attack that can damage your hardware as well as your software. This attack can tax CPUs, shorten a device’s lifespan, run down your batteries, and even cause physical damage.

28. On average, there were two data breaches per day in healthcare in 2021.

(HIPAA)

In its 2021 journal, HIPAA reported that hackers attacked the healthcare system 706 times in the period from mid-2020 to mid-2021. One of the most worrying cyber attacks facts is that they have resulted in 44,369,781 individuals having their personal information exposed or compromised.

29. The world is turning into an enormous cyberwarfare battlefield, with more than 500 documented geopolitical cyber attacks since 2009.

(Global Times), (PrivacyAffairs)

Out of 500 documented large-scale attacks, 79 originated from Russia, 79 from China, and 31 from Iran. The reports state that the US is responsible for just 12 national-level attacks. Still, the Chinese cyber attack statistics tell a different story. A security company has discovered more than 2700 advanced attacks against China in the past few years.

30. More than 90% of the global airline industry was affected in a single 2021 data breach.

(Guardian)

The data breach statistics show that airline companies are one of the most endangered. One of the largest airline company data breaches in 2021 was when a sophisticated attack was conducted against SITA. This IT systems operator serves around 90% of the global aviation industry.

According to the sources, hundreds of thousands of airline passengers around the world had their data exposed.

However, the company claims that the data is limited to just names, membership, and tier status. When it comes to the company’s financial sector, the cyber attack statistics show that the hackers couldn’t get information such as credit card numbers, emails, passwords.

31. On average, there are more than 450,000 new malicious programs registered every day.

(AV-TEST)

The AV-TEST Institute from Germany, one of the authorities on cybercrime, has registered around 1.26 billion malicious and potentially unwanted programs by September of 2021.

Furthermore, the experts from the institute have also detected approximately 123 million new malicious programs in the first eight months of 2021.

With such a high number of threats, it’s paramount that we all improve our safety. But, just knowing how many cyber attacks per day were there in 2020 and 2021 isn’t enough. We must improve our safety by taking the necessary precautions and getting specialized software and support.

32. MacOS malware boomed in Q3 of 2020 by 420%, but it came down to normal levels in 2021.

(McAfee) (Help Net Security)

The 2021 data show a 70% drop in EvilQuest infections, the main contributor to the increase we saw in 2020. The malware statistics show that it was first spotted in June that year, and has infected many computers, encrypting data and requesting a ransom.

The experts, however, suspect that the ransom is just a smokescreen designed to divert the user’s attention from other stealth malware that comes in the package. The cyber attack statistics show that the computers were mainly infected when their owners downloaded pirated versions of popular macOS software.

Conclusion

Cybercrime is on the rise and is becoming more targeted and sophisticated. This means that we should be more careful too.

It’s a good idea to update your OS regularly, train your employees on the potential dangers of social engineering, and avoid downloading unfamiliar apps from unknown sources if you want to lower the risk of a cyber attack.

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