Current hacking statistics prove the significance of hackers’ activities in modern society. Most businesses have exposed data and insufficient cybersecurity measures, putting them at an increased risk of data loss.
Although the cybersecurity sector is quickly expanding and more resources are being used to combat cyberattacks, the industry’s nature still has a long way to go before we can catch up with these threats.
Companies need to engage in cybersecurity training, prevention, and best practices and make them a part of their culture to successfully combat the issue. We’ve gathered the most critical data to offer you a better picture of the current situation.
Top Hacking Facts (Editor’s Choice)
- Every 39 seconds, a hacker attack occurs
- Only 9.6% of hackers are women
- The fastest hackers are Russians
- The average attack cost $4.24 million in 2021
- In 2020, California ranked highest in cybercrime victims and losses in the US
- Small businesses are a target of 43% of cyberattacks
- It is predicted that $6 trillion will be spent on cybersecurity worldwide by the end of 2021
- A study confirms that passwords can be hacked in less than an hour
General Hacking Stats
Every day, hackers create over 300,000 pieces of malware globally. After that, they use a new malware to attack companies.
1. Every 39 seconds, a hacker attack occurs.
(UMSL Daily)
To make things worse, companies identify a breach once in 206 days on average. Although businesses spend a fortune on cybersecurity every year, there’s still a lack of cybersecurity talent across the workforce.
2. Kevin Mitnick is the number one hacker in the world.
(Cobalt, PhishProtection)
Kevin Mitnick has been hacking since he was a child. As a matter of fact, he rose to public prominence in the 1980s by hacking into the North American Defense Command.
Mitnick now manages Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, a computer security consulting firm. In addition, he is a co-owner of KnowBe4, a security awareness training company that sells anti-phishing software.
3. Hacker stats note that only 9.6% of hackers are women.
(Zippia)
At the same time, the percentage of men hackers is substantially higher—72.8%. Regarding demographics, White hackers are the most frequent, with 72.6%. Furthermore, 9.1% are Hispanics or Latino, and the percentage is somewhat lower for Black or African Americans—8.0%. Interestingly, only 7.3% of hackers are Asian.
4. The average age of a computer hacker is 40+.
(Zippia)
That represents more than half (58%) of them. The next most common age group among hackers is 30–40, with 29%. Finally, around 13% of hackers are in their twenties. Another interesting piece of data is that 44% of hackers own a bachelor’s degree.
5. The fastest hackers are Russians.
(Statista)
Based on the latest data, Russian hackers’ average breakout time is around 18 minutes. Hacking data reveals that right after them are North Koreans who access a network in less than 140 minutes.
However, the Chinese aren’t left behind either. Their average breakout time is around four hours.
6. A study notes that about 35% of Americans have had their identity stolen or have been hacked.
(NY Post)
Almost half of them are willing to pay back their hacked information. Believe it or not, stats on the cost of hacking show that the average respondent will pay over $29,332 on the black market for the stolen info.
When asked about what people value most regarding personal information, the main answer is debit card numbers. In fact, Americans would pay $3,968 to retrieve their stolen debit card number. These are truly worrying identity theft statistics.
Find out how to deter identity theft.
7. The average attack cost $4.24 million in 2021.
(iii, Security Magazine)
Recently, the data breach cost has been rising. Hacking statistics find that the average attack cost was somewhat lower in 2020—$3.86 million. All in all, the costs are the highest in the United States. Moreover, based on a report, there were 17% more US company data breaches in the first three quarters of 2021 than in the whole of 2020, rising from 1,108 to 1,291 data breaches.
Alarming Cyber Hacking Statistics
Cyber-related frauds resulted in losses of $101 million in 2020. That was an increase from $83.8 million in 2019.
8. In 2020, California ranked highest in the US regarding the number of cybercrime victims and losses.
(iii)
Furthermore, it had 69,541 cybercrime victims and lost $621.5 million. In addition, the countries that followed California with the highest number of cybercrime victims were Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois.
9. Computer virus statistics show that there were 5.6 billion malware attacks in 2020.
(Statista)
Still, that data is optimistic, considering that the number was 9.9 billion in 2019. It was after a record high of 10.5 billion in 2018. Moreover, most malware attacks globally happened in North America in 2020.
Investing in an antivirus software or a full-on protection for your Mac device has never been more important than today.
10. 61% of respondents reported a ransomware attack at some point in the past year.
(Mimecast)
Moreover, ransomware statistics show that percentage was 51% in 2019. As a result, the affected companies witnessed six days of interruption. In addition, it was seven days or even more for 37% of companies. Overall, the increasing effect of hacking, including ransomware attacks, is evident. That’s why ransomware protection is incredibly important.
11. 52% of companies felt obliged to pay the ransom.
(Mimecast)
Fortunately, 66% of them retrieved their lost data. Be that as it may, paying the ransom doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the data back. For instance, 34% of companies didn’t succeed in getting back their data even though they paid for it.
12. Small businesses are the target of 43% of cyberattacks.
(Small Business Trends)
Small business hacking statistics show that, out of all the attacks in the report, these represent the largest share. The reason behind this is apparent—deficiency of knowledge and resources. In particular, many small businesses aren’t aware of the security risks they might face.
Consequently, attackers take advantage of this vulnerability. Thus, small businesses must become more aware and invest in the best digital security.
13. It is predicted that $10.5 trillion will be spent on cybersecurity worldwide by 2025.
(Cybercrime Magazine, IIBA)
In the United States, cybercrime is the fastest-growing crime, and it’s expanding in scale, skill, and cost. Unfortunately, cybersecurity statistics show that most companies don’t understand the importance of cybersecurity and have ineffective cybersecurity measures. Moreover, only 5% of their folders are suitably protected.
Password Hacking Statistics
Passwords are easily hacked since most people follow similar patterns. In the last five years, hackers have exposed as many as 555 million stolen passwords on the dark web.
14. A study confirms that passwords can be hacked in less than an hour.
(Security Magazine)
Worse, as computer hardware processing capacity advances, this period is becoming even shorter.
On the positive side, hacking statistics show that passwords of at least 12 characters and lowercase letters can be hacked in a year. Things are looking even better for passwords that have at least 15 characters. In that case, a hacker would need 1,000 years to hack them.
15. 27% of survey respondents have tried to guess the password of someone else.
(Google)
What’s even more unbelievable, 17% of people who have tried to guess someone else’s password have succeeded. Americans’ online data is at risk because of easy-to-guess passwords, making it easier for hackers to access their accounts.
Furthermore, hacking trends reveal that a person can more easily guess the password of someone they know.
16. Compromised passwords make up 80% of hacking-related breaches.
(Last Pass)
More and more companies use password management. In fact, one of the best password management software is 1Password.
However, many companies still struggle to manage passwords and avoid these attacks adequately.
17. 28% of survey respondents try to have a few strong passwords.
(NY Post)
However, they claim not all their passwords are strong. So, people don’t create strong passwords for all their accounts.
Namely, they create stronger passwords for financial accounts than for social media. More specifically, 70% of respondents use complex passwords for their financial accounts.
Social Media Hacking Statistics
More than 4.14 billion people are actively using social networks and social media hacking is becoming more frequent. In fact, there has been a 13% increase in the last two years.
18. 4% of companies globally witnessed over 100 social media attacks in 2019.
(Statista)
In addition, the survey discloses that 11% faced 51–100 attacks that year, and 16% were the victims of 26–50 attacks. Furthermore, the survey’s hacking graph notes that 19% were attacked 11–25 times, and 33% faced up to 10 attacks that year.
While most companies were the targets of attacks, 14% survived 2019 attack-free.
19. In April 2021, hackers leaked sensitive data of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries.
(Business Insider)
More specifically, the data included birthdays, phone numbers, full names, Facebook IDs, and sometimes email addresses. In addition, security researchers claim that hackers could commit fraud and impersonate people by using this data in the future.
20. According to Twitter, a massive cyberattack on celebrity accounts targeted 130 accounts in July 2020.
(BBC)
Hacking facts confirm that many Bitcoin-related Twitter accounts tweeted a promise to double any received Bitcoin as a way of giving back to the community. Moreover, some accounts involved Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Kanye West.
Twitter rushed to stop the attack by temporarily banning all verified users from tweeting. Yet, there was concern that the hack may not be over if the attackers copied and still had access to the private Direct Messages of the accounts they gained control of.
Conclusion
Hackers want your personal and financial information. They are probing platforms every minute of every day. The protections you put in place a few years ago and haven’t updated are worthless.
Computer hacking statistics disclose that millions of new hacking techniques emerge every year. So, change your passwords frequently, use a password manager to keep them secure, and install antivirus software.
Whether you want to protect your business or your family, you need to line up the defense yourself. Trends show worrying data for this year, so take steps to protect your data and information before it’s too late and stay safe in 2022.
People Also Ask
Cyberattacks represent unwelcome attempts to steal, leak, change, damage, or delete data through gaining unauthorized access to computer systems. Namely, approximately 2,200 cyberattacks occur every day, equaling more than 800,000 people being hacked every year. That translates to somewhere around one attack every 39 seconds.
All in all, cyberattacks are real disasters, and while you cannot prevent them, you can prepare for them.
For several years in a run, the finance and insurance industry has been the most targeted. Hackers are mostly drawn to this industry because of the type of private information financial organizations hold.
More specifically, databases containing sensitive data such as credit card numbers and social security numbers are prevalent in the sector, and hackers are well aware of this.
The number of data compromised victims in the United States varies in 2021 alone. In fact, in the first and second quarter combined it was lower (121 million) than in the third quarter of the year (160 million). This increase is due to a sequence of unprotected cloud databases. In the United States, there were 1,291 data breaches in 2021.
Cyberattacks have been on the rise recently. Ransomware has been used in many of these attacks, increasing by 102% in the first half of 2021 compared to last year’s same period.
Furthermore, hackers attempt to take advantage of the surge in remote working, and their methods are becoming more complex.
In addition, hackers began to target a broader range of technologies in 2020. Compared to 2019, there was a 694% increase in time hackers spent attacking APIs, a 663% increase in those targeting Android, and a 1000% increase in hackers focusing on IoT.
You can discover flaws and prevent attackers by knowing the most popular hacking tactics and arming yourself with the necessary tools. In fact, the most popular hacking approach is phishing. Phishing messages regularly fill our inboxes and text messaging apps and they trick users into opening them.
Malware-injecting devices, password cracking, and missing security patches are other typical hacking techniques that harm businesses.
Many people are under the impression that cybercrime only affects others. However, the data is clear—everyone is a target in 2021. Going back to January 2019, figures show that more than 1.76 billion records were stolen.
Now, 30,000 websites are hacked throughout the world every day. Hackers attack financial, healthcare, and retail organizations daily. Moreover, about 2,200 cyberattacks happen every day, equating to nearly one every 39 seconds, hacking statistics show.
