Cybercrime cost the world over $1 trillion in 2020 – Report
But 1% of companies do not have any cyber incident strategies whatsoever.
The cost of cybercrime continues to increase, and in 2020, it reached a staggering $1 trillion, a new report has shown.
A big chunk of the record-high $1 trillion was lost due to cyber incidents ($945 billion), and a small portion was spent on cybersecurity efforts($145 billion).
Data compiled by Atlas VPN says the figure accounts for around 1% of global GDP. The report shows how the cost of cybercrime continues to eat into the global economy.
In general, the cost of cybersecurity shot up by over 50 percent from 2018 when the world spent approximately $600 billion on mitigation. On the other hand, resultant losses due to cyber incidents are up by 81 percent in 2020 compared to 2018.
The most expensive cybercrimes include intellectual property theft and financial crime, which accounted for two-thirds of monetary losses in 2020. The data was based on McAfee’s “Hidden Cost of Cybercrime” report released in December 2020.
An estimated average cybercrime cost from 2013 to 2020
(in billion USD)
But while the cost of cyber incidents continues to rise as governments and private companies continue their digital shift, most organizations are unprepared. A shocking 20 percent of organizations “have no plans on how to protect against cybercrime events.” And even worse, 1 percent of companies do not have any cyber incident strategies whatsoever.
“No organization is completely immune to cyberattacks, while their consequences can be devastating,” Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN, wrote in a blog post. She advises companies to embrace both reactive and preventive cybersecurity practices to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
“Having an action plan should your company get hacked is just as important as safeguarding it against such threats.”
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