Small or big, if you own a business, you must keep yourself updated with the recent corporate hacking statistics!
Hacking has been around for as long as computers have existed. In the beginning, it was merely seen as a fun activity. However, profits seem to have become its primary focus now.
The illicit industry of hacking information systems has now grown to be worth billions of dollars. Since there is so much money to be made, criminals are drawn to hacking.
Even though cybersecurity knowledge and abilities appear to be growing, cyberattacks’ risk and sophistication continue to rise. It is, therefore, quite dangerous to navigate the new digital world.
While many small business owners assume that hackers only target big businesses or governmental organizations, the harsh reality is that they are ruthless and will spare no one.
In order to demonstrate this, we have compiled a collection of astounding facts and stats in this article.
Key Statistics
- Businesses will lose $10.5 trillion per year by 2025 due to cybercrime.
- The US spends around $3.5 billion a year on cybersecurity.
- In the US, a digital data breach typically costs $200,000 to remediate.
- In the US, phishing and social engineering attacks have affected about 62% of organizations.
- The COVID outbreak caused a 400% increase in cyber-attacks worldwide.
- 77% of businesses lack a plan for responding to cybersecurity incidents.
- About 91% of cyber-attacks against enterprise-class businesses are brought on by phishing emails.
- Corporate hacking attacks involving ransomware happened every 11 seconds in 2021.
Corporate Hacking Statistics in the US in 2025
1. The US Spends Around $3.5 Billion a Year on Cybersecurity.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that the United States spent $3.5 billion in 2019 defending against cyber-attacks. However, the actual amount is probably far higher because many attacks go unreported and unnoticed.
In fact, the United States is the country that invests the most in cybersecurity globally. It leads all other nations in cybersecurity spending and preparation.
Ransomware alone is thought to cost the United States $9 billion annually, according to one security firm. Additionally, the price of cybersecurity keeps rising.
Businesses in the United States invested 23% more in cybersecurity in 2020 than they did in 2019. Despite the rising cash amount, digital security breaches continued to rise.
(Source: Zippia)
2. In the US, a Digital Data Breach Typically Costs $200,000 to Remediate.
An average incident of cybercrime costs $200,000 for all businesses, big and small. While more American businesses are taking a proactive approach to thwart cyber-attacks, the frequency of breaches keeps rising.
60% of American firms are reportedly compelled to shut down within six months of an attack due to the crippling costs connected with digital data breaches.
(Source: Zippia)
3. With a Cost of $9.44 Million, American Breaches Were the Most Expensive Around the World in 2022.
According to an estimate, the average global cost of digital data breaches was $4.35 million last year in 2022.
The most expensive breaches occurred in the healthcare sector, with an average cost of $10.10 million. However, at $9.44 million, breaches in the United States were the most expensive.
(Source: Tech Target)
4. In the US, Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks Have Affected About 62% of Organizations.
Over fifty percent of American businesses have fallen victim to phishing. In cybersecurity, the term “phishing” refers to the practice of attempting to access sensitive data by sending a business or person an online hoax that seems to have originated from a reliable source.
Hackers frequently use spear-phishing to target top executives at businesses or organizations because they typically have easier access to sensitive information and are easier targets due to a lack of training. Phishing is frequently combined with ransomware as well.
(Source: Zippia)
5. Small-To-Midsized Businesses (SMBs) Are the Target of More than 50% of All Cyber-Attacks.
According to MasterCard, 66% of SMBs in America had at least one encounter with a hacking incident in the previous two years.
A Better Business Bureau survey revealed that, among 55% of the small firms, which account for more than 97 percent of all businesses in North America, a lack of resources or understanding is the main obstacle to developing a cybersecurity plan.
(Source: Cyber Security Ventures)
Corporate Hacking Statistics Worldwide
6. According to Projections, Businesses Will Lose $10.5 Trillion a Year by 2025 Due to Cybercrime.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the cost of cybercrime is expected to increase by 15% yearly, approaching $10.5 trillion by 2025 from the predicted $8 trillion in the year 2023.
Costs of cybercrime include data loss and damage, money theft, lost productivity, intellectual property theft, theft of financial and personal data, fraud, disruption of business operations following an attack, forensic inquiry, restoration of compromised data, and reputational damage.
(Source: Cyber Security Ventures)
7. The Worldwide COVID Outbreak Caused a 400% Increase in Cyber-Attacks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation claims that cyber-attacks increased by as much as 400% during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Before the outbreak, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre received about 1,000 reports every day.
These complaints increased to between 3,000 and 4,000 per day as a result of the closures in the recent pandemic and the shift to remote work settings.
(Source: Zippia)
8. 93% of Business Networks Are Vulnerable to Cyber-Attacks.
93% of business networks are easily breached by modern hackers. In these situations, a cybercriminal assumes the role of an external attacker, breaking through the network safety and security measures of a corporation to access sensitive data along with local network resources.
The research found that it typically takes two days to break into the internal network of a company. Since many accounts, especially those used for system management, have simple passwords, the primary method of attack in 71% of businesses is credential compromise.
(Source: Beta News)
9. More than 77% of Businesses Lack a Plan for Responding to Cybersecurity Incidents.
According to statistics on hacking attempts against enterprises, numerous organizations lack an effective response plan against a cyber-security incident.
Such strategies are required by and described in the GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, in Europe.
Despite tracking news of cyber-attacks and being aware of the risks, the majority of organizations have told researchers that they are not yet fully GDPR compliant.
(Source: DataProt)
10. An Attack on The Supply Chain Will Affect 45% of All International Organizations by 2025.
The epidemic of supply chain hacks has likely been the biggest cybersecurity trend over the past few years. Organizations all across the world are in danger from cyber catastrophes like the breach at software management firm SolarWinds or Log4j.
By 2025, 45% of all worldwide organizations, according to Gartner, will be affected by some form of a supply chain attack. It is worth noting that this percentage is three times greater than what was seen in the year 2021.
(Source: Gartner)
11. Small and Medium-Sized Firms Are the Target of 43% of Cyber Attacks
Cyber-attacks take place against all types of businesses. However, an increase in the frequency and complexity of these attacks against small and medium-sized businesses is especially seen.
Small and medium-sized firms are the target of 43% of cyber-attacks. Those who perpetrate cybercrimes favor targeting smaller, less wealthy businesses simply because larger businesses have more effective security measures in place.
On the contrary, only 14% of small and medium-sized businesses are prepared with a cyber-security strategy for their protection.
(Source: Embroker)
12. Employees of Smaller Companies Are 350% More Likely to Experience Social Engineering Attacks than Those at Larger Companies.
Smaller businesses are more appealing to cybercriminals than large corporations for a variety of reasons, including their ease of access, lack of security measures, and the possibility of making a sizable financial gain by simultaneously targeting a large number of such organizations without drawing much attention from the media or law enforcement.
As a result of their position of power inside the organization, CEOs and CFOs are two common targets, although executive assistants who have access to the accounts of senior corporate officials are also commonly targeted.
(Source: Get Astra)
13. 82% of All Data Breaches in 2022 Were Reported to Have the Human Element as The Primary Threat Factor.
According to a report by Verizon, 82% of data breaches in 2022 had a human factor as their primary cause. When it comes to stolen passwords and phishing attacks, the human factor is very important.
Phishing is frequently transmitted over email; such attacks persuade a user to click a link or submit personal data that can be used for exploitation.
(Source: Tech Target)
14. About 91% of Cyber-Attacks Against Enterprise-Class Businesses Are Brought on By Phishing Emails.
Nine out of ten cybersecurity vulnerabilities in large businesses might be linked to phishing attempts. Nearly forty million bogus phishing emails were sent to over 1,000 organizations by PhishMe to test this statistic.
What is truly worrisome is that the customer response rate for opening them was 91%.
(Source: DataProt)
15. Corporate Hacking Attacks Involving Ransomware Happened Every 11 Seconds in 2021.
The only thing that sets cybercrime apart from other types of crime is the attackers’ access to systems. Cybercriminals can steal continuously and automatically.
Therefore, if you’ve been wondering how many cyber-attacks occur each day, keep in mind that hackers are capable of attacking several targets in just a few seconds.
Every 11 seconds over the past year, ransomware attacks have targeted businesses. Such attacks on corporations and average internet users are predicted to rise by 2031 and happen every two seconds.
(Source: Cyber Security Ventures)
16. Ransomware Attacks Targeted 76% of Organizations in 2022.
In 2022, ransomware attacks targeted 76% of organizations, of which 64% were actually compromised. After paying the ransom, just 50% of these organizations were able to get their data back.
90% of the impacted businesses had cybersecurity insurance that covered ransomware attacks, and 82% of insurance providers agreed to reimburse the ransom in full or in part.
The reason that a large number of organizations were able to pay was that a large chunk of the businesses had cybersecurity insurance.
(Source: CSO Online)
17. Emails Were Used by Hackers to Attack Five out Of Six Large Businesses in The Past Year.
According to hacking statistics, emails were used by hackers to attack five out of every six large businesses in the past year. This depicts a 40% increase from the year before.
Targets of cybercrime are most likely to be companies with a number of employees greater than 2,500. Cybercriminals target large companies when they want to score big. They have more personnel to lure with phishing emails, more databases, bigger bank accounts, etc.
(Source: DataProt)
FAQs
What Is the Most Common Form of Corporate Hacking?
The most prevalent type of hacking is phishing, commonly referred to as social engineering. It is estimated that phishing scams via text message, email, or social media are the origin of 80% of all cyber-attacks.
It is the practice of coercing weak individuals into disclosing personal data online. By utilizing social engineering, hackers hope to gain access to private information and disseminate harmful software and computer viruses.
Is It Common for Hackers to Impersonate a Brand in Their Fraudulent Emails?
As concerning as this may sound, brand impersonation is more common than employees of any company could have imagined.
With almost 30 million messages using Microsoft branding or mentioning key products such as Office or OneDrive, cybercriminals mostly leveraged Microsoft’s brand name as bait in phishing attacks last year.
Other businesses, such as Amazon, DocuSign, Google, DHL, and Adobe, were also impersonated in 6.5 million, 3.5 million, 2.6 million, 2 million, and 1.5 million messages respectively.
What Is the Best Way to Prepare Oneself for Cyber-Attacks?
Without more information, it is difficult to respond to this question, but in general, best practices for cybersecurity should be followed.
These include using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, avoiding clicking on dubious links, backing up your data, using solid antivirus software, and limiting the amount of personal information that is shared online.
Another efficient way for organizations to minimize cybercrime losses is to sign up for a good cybersecurity insurance plan.
Conclusion
Nowadays, more than ever, the world depends on technology. Production of digital data has increased.
Online cyber threats are a rising problem too, unfortunately, and they don’t discriminate between individuals and organizations when seeking a target.
These threats range from phishing spears and brute force attacks to infrastructure infiltrations and data breaches.
Hackers have persisted in acting maliciously, targeting both businesses and people, despite their being a serious pandemic and worldwide health concern.
To prevent massive losses, cyber security must be strengthened for all big or small corporations.
However, to do so, it is also crucial to stay up to date with all corporate hacking statistics and exercise caution as technology develops and our reliance on the internet grows.