60 Worrying Cybercrime Statistics & Facts [2022]

Edward G. | May 8, 2022

About the statistics:

The Atlas VPN research team compiled the most significant 2021 cybercrime statistics to provide a clear view of the current cyber-threat landscape.

Based on the statistics, it is evident that both the volume and the sophistication of attacks grew substantially during the period under review.

The shift to remote work is largely to blame, as it provided a considerably larger attack surface for hackers to exploit. Also, unpatched personal devices, unprotected home networks, and reduced visibility for the in-house security team are some of the leading security issues.

Methodology:

The statistics are based on data from strictly reputable sources, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Trade Commission, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, and many others. You can click on the source of each statistic to explore the full report that includes extended analysis, references, and additional data.

Some of the main highlights include:

• Blockchain hackers netted over $100 million in Q1 2021
• Ransomware accounted for 81% of all financially driven intrusions in 2020. The average cost of a ransomware breach was $4.44 million.
• Phishing assaults affected 83%t of UK firms in the last year.
• Google discovered a record-high number of phishing websites last year, with over 2.11 million, representing a 25% increase over 2019.
• Over 5 billion records have already been leaked in 2021.
• RDP attacks skyrocketed 241% in 2020. In 2019, the number of RDP attacks was 969 million, but in 2020, threat actors carried out an incredible 3.3 billion attacks.
• macOS malware development surged by over 1,000% in 2020

Table of contents

Ransomware
Phishing
Covid-19 scams
Identity theft
Malware
Blockchain
State-by-state statistics
Cyberattacks on enterprises
Data leaks
Virtual Private Network
Other

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks are one of the most common cyber risks that businesses must deal with. Hackers encrypt important files and documents, presenting victims with the choice of paying a ransom or restoring data from backups.

Many enterprises are forced to pay thieves because the cost of disruption and reputational damage outweighs the ransom.

Over 100 million Windows-targeted malware developed in 2021 alone (Source)

The year 2021 will be remembered as a watershed moment in the creation of new Windows malware. Cybercriminals created 107.28 million unique threats for the Windows operating system.

Since 2012, the number of new malware kinds for Windows has constantly increased. Every year, the number of new malicious software samples grows by around 9.5 million, or 23%.

Ransomware volume doubles in 2021, surpassing 600 million (Source)

In 2021, the global ransomware volume increased by 105 percent. In addition, thieves targeted the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom with the most ransomware attacks.

In 2019, there were roughly 188 million ransomware infections worldwide. The next year, in 2020, ransomware threats increased considerably, surpassing 300 million in volume. Both years, however, fall short of the amount of ransomware attacks seen in 2021. The number of ransomware attacks more than doubled, hitting 623 million.

Nearly 50% of organizations hit by ransomware are US-based (Source)

Surprisingly, 151 (45%) of the 337 ransomware victims last year were based in the United States. In a similar vein, ransomware entrapped 39 (12%) of Canadian firms, forcing them to pay a ransom. Germany is third on the list, with 26 (8%) firms experiencing a ransomware assault.

The United Kingdom is fourth, and France is fifth, with 17 (5%) and 16 (5%) enterprises, respectively, having been hit by ransomware.

Nearly 50% of organizations hit by ransomware are US-based (Source)

Surprisingly, 151 (45%) of the 337 ransomware victims last year were based in the United States. In a similar vein, ransomware entrapped 39 (12%) of Canadian firms, forcing them to pay a ransom. Germany is third on the list, with 26 (8%) firms experiencing a ransomware assault.

The United Kingdom is fourth, and France is fifth, with 17 (5%) and 16 (5%) enterprises, respectively, having been hit by ransomware.

Phishing

Phishing attacks impersonate well-known brands, government branches, or other trustable sources in order to dupe users into entering their usernames and passwords or providing other personal information, like credit card detail.

Amazon, DHL, and DocuSign most imitated brands in phishing emails (Source)

In 2021, Amazon topped the list as the most impersonated brand in global email phishing assaults. In total, Amazon’s brand name was utilized in 17.7% of brand phishing emails.

DHL, the world’s largest shipping firm, and DocuSign, a cloud-based electronic signature technology provider, are both closely followed by the trillion-dollar brand, accounting for 16.5 percent and 12.7 percent of brand phishing campaigns, respectively.
A record 2 million phishing sites reported in 2020, highest in a decade
Google discovered a record-high number of phishing websites last year, with over 2.11 million, representing a 25% increase over 2019.

Millennials and Gen Zers are most likely to fall for phishing emails (Source)

Millennials and Gen Zers in the United States are more prone than their older counterparts to fall for phishing emails. In sum, more than one-fifth (23%) of Generation Z and Millennials had been deceived by phishing emails.

83% of UK businesses face phishing attacks as threat penetration looms (Source)

Phishing assaults have risen dramatically in recent year as more individuals work from home. People are more exposed to getting fraudulent emails or being steered to deceptive websites due to a lack of cybersecurity in the home setting.

Microsoft and Zoom most impersonated brands at 80% in 2020 phishing attempts (Source)

Microsoft and Zoom were the most regularly impersonated firms in phishing attacks in 2020. Last year, 80% of all brand email phishing campaigns resembled Microsoft or Zoom in order to defraud consumers.

Microsoft, a multinational technology business, came out on top of the other brand impersonators. The brand was leveraged in 28,536 different phishing attempts last year, accounting for 70% of all brand phishing attacks.

Phishing assaults affected 83% of UK firms in the last year.

FBI reports 12x surge in phishing complaints over the past 5 years (Source)

In 2016, the FBI’s crime center received 19,465 phishing reports; by 2020, that number had increased by 1140% to 241,342. In 2020, monetary losses connected to phishing totaled $54 million.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, they received a record amount of reports from US residents in 2020, totaling 791,790, up 69% from 2019. Furthermore, from $3.5 billion in 2019 to $4.2 billion in 2020, losses due to internet crime grew by $700 million.

Covid-19 scams

Shortly after the pandemic started, fraudsters developed various ways to capitalize on people’s natural curiosity and desire to learn more about pandemic-related issues. These scams range from phishing emails supposedly providing shocking news about the pandemic or documents and benefits fraud that steals the victims’ stimulus check.

More than 16 million Covid-related cyber threats were detected in 2020

Malicious spam accounted for approximately 89% of all Covid-19-related cyber threats discovered last year, or roughly 14.5 million attacks. Spam is one of the most simple and accessible cyber-attack strategies, which may explain why it is so popular among hackers.

Common spam email subject lines ranged from very vague, such as “COVID-19 issue”, “Important message on COVID-19”, to more specific ones, such as “COVID-19/FluA+B Antigen Combo Rapid Test”, which is trying to get readers attention by offering a highly sought after test for Covid-19.

Identity theft

Identity theft and identity fraud refer to all kinds of criminal acts in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses the personal data of other people in a way that involves fraud or deception, usually for financial gain.

Kansas and Rhode Island suffered the most identity thefts in 2020

Kansas and Rhode Island had the greatest number of identity thefts in 2020. The majority of the thefts were committed in order to apply for or obtain government assistance, such as stimulus cheques or unemployment compensation.

Kansas was the most targeted state in the US by scammers, with 1,485 identity theft reports per 100,000 people. The failure of the unemployment system, which made it easy for fraudsters to claim benefits instead of jobless individuals, was the main reason for such a high number. The state incurred a $400 million loss as a result of this failure.

Government documents and benefits fraud surged 45 times in 2020 (Source)

Government document or benefits fraud increased 45 times in 2020. Organized crime networks utilizing stolen identities have filed a substantial increase in false unemployment benefits claims in most states.

Kansas was the most targeted state in the US by scammers, with 1,485 identity theft reports per 100,000 people. The failure of the unemployment system, which made it easy for fraudsters to claim benefits instead of jobless individuals, was the main reason for such a high number. The state incurred a $400 million loss as a result of this failure.

55% of Americans more worried about getting hacked than being murdered (Source)

Citizens in the United States are more concerned about being hacked than about being murdered. The concerns appear to be warranted, with government security breaches, huge company data dumps, and other cybersecurity challenges dominating headlines throughout the world.

From September 30th to October 15th, 2020, a telephone poll was conducted to determine whether Americans are concerned about different crime kinds regularly, occasionally, seldom, or never. A total of 1,035 people aged 18 and up from the United States took part in the poll.

Malware

Malware is malicious software that is intended to harm or destroy computers and computer systems. The term “malware” is an abbreviation for “malicious software.” Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and ransomware are all examples of malware.

Surprisingly, citizens in the United States are most concerned about cybercrime.

macOS malware development surged by over 1,000% in 2020

macOS malware production increased by 1,092% in 2020. In fact, 674,273 new malware samples were discovered in 2020, compared to 56,556 ones in 2019.

Despite the fact that macOS malware development has reached new highs, hackers continue to target Windows users far more frequently.

In 2020, 91.05 million new Windows malware samples were identified, which is a new high. In other words, fraudsters created 249,452 threats every day on average.

Malware disguised as meeting apps spiked by 1,067% in 12 months (Source)

Cyberthreats disguised as videoconferencing programs increased by 1,067% in a year. The most popular applications used to disguise malware were Zoom, MS Teams, Slack, Webex, HighFive, Lifesize, Join.me, Flock, Gotomeeting.

Threat actors spread these malicious files through phishing emails or websites. Fraudsters create seemingly authentic emails and websites to lure victims into downloading the installer, which comes with a hidden bonus called malware.

Over 100 million malware infections detected on Windows in 2020 (Source)

In the year 2020, about 111 million malware infections were detected on Windows-based devices.

Last year, 83% of all Windows malware threats, or roughly 92.3 million, were discovered on consumer computers, while 15%, or 16.7 million, were discovered on business systems. The remaining 2% of malware infections remained unidentified.

Blockchain

Cryptocurrencies had a strong start this year, with crypto asset prices, such as Bitcoin (BTC), reaching record-heights. However, that caught the attention of cybercriminals.

Over $12 billion in crypto stolen in the past decade (Source)

The crypto industry’s technology has improved dramatically since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009. Despite this, many crypto businesses have failed to develop effective security mechanisms that would prevent hackers from profiting at the expense of their victims by exploiting loopholes.

In the last 11 years, more than $12 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen. Furthermore, 40 percent of the cash were taken from fake exchanges.

86% of hacks in Google Cloud were used for illegal crypto mining (Source)

Poor cybersecurity protections and a lack of control implementations are to blame for many successful assaults on cloud infrastructure. Cloud services can become simple targets for hackers to conduct various cyberattacks if they are not adequately protected.

Over 86% of hijacked Google Cloud accounts are being utilized to mine cryptocurrency illegally. Furthermore, the majority of Google Cloud compromises are caused by a user account password that is either weak or non-existent.

Blockchain hackers netted over $100 million in Q1 2021 (Source)

Cybercriminals stole roughly $108.3 million from various blockchain projects in the first quarter of 2021, up 46% from the same period last year. The criminals’ preferred targets were Ethereum DApps, blockchain wallets, and cryptocurrency exchanges.

In Q1 of 2021, Ethereum (ETH) DApps, or decentralized applications based on the Ethereum smart contract, were the most popular blockchain targets for hackers. A total of 11 breaches and 5 fraud events harmed them, resulting in roughly $86 million in losses.

Blockchain hackers stole $3.8 billion in 122 attacks throughout 2020 (Source)

In 122 attacks in 2020, the Atlas VPN team discovered that blockchain hackers stole roughly $3.78 billion. Last year alone, blockchain-related assaults accounted for over a third (33%) of all time cyberattacks aimed against blockchain projects.

Monetary losses to cybercrime

The majority of cyberattacks are aimed to provide financial gain for the fraudster in one way or another. Here, we will take a deeper look into how these attacks affected victims and companies in terms of monetary losses.

Americans lost a record $3.5bn to cybercrime in 2021 YTD (Source)

Cybercrime is wreaking havoc across the United States, causing unprecedented losses. In the first three quarters of 2021, Americans have already lost $3.49 billion to cybercrime. You won’t need a calculator to figure out that the damages are $12.78 million each day.

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the buzz surrounding cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and the metaverse to dupe people into investing in fraudulent projects that vanish after raising a large sum of money.

An analysis of the top 10 most cybercrime-ridden states (Source)

California, New York, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado are among the top ten US states in terms of cybercrime losses.

Citizens in these states lost $2.39 billion last year as a result of various sorts of internet crime. Losses totaled $327.89 million in the first reporting quarter, 2013.

Elderly people lost nearly $1 billion to Internet crime in 2020 (Source)

In 2020, Americans over the age of 60 lost $966 million to various forms of internet scams.

Because cybercriminals believe victims above the age of 60 have large financial resources, they target them. Elders also have a poor understanding of basic internet security procedures

Cybercrime cost the world over $1 trillion in 2020 (Source)

In 2020, cybercrime will have cost the world more than $1 trillion, or around 1% of global GDP. While cyber attacks cost $945 billion, $145 billion was invested in cybersecurity.

Overall, cybersecurity expenses in 2020 are expected to increase by more than half of what they were in 2018 when more than $600 billion was spent to combat cybercrime. Meanwhile, compared to two years ago, when damages were $522.5 billion, losses due to cyber events increased by 81%.

Such losses have more than tripled in seven years, from $300 billion in 2013 to $945 billion in 2020.

Australians lost a record $176 million from 216 thousand scams in 2020 (Source)

In 2020, Australians will have lost approximately $176 million (AUD) to scams. In total, Australians reported almost 216 thousand fraud cases, with financial losses accounting for 10.7% of the total.

In terms of monetary losses and the number of scams in Australia, the year 2020 set a new high. In 2020, Australians lost $97.08 million more than they did in 2019, a 123% rise.

Cyberattacks on enterprises

85% of cyberattacks in the US originate internally (Source)

Internal attacks account for 85% of all cyberattacks in the United States. On May 9th, a total of 204,410,383 attacks were recorded in a single day. 174,528,081 of them came from inside the country.

Russia had the second-highest number of cyberattacks, with 10,579,930 threats. The third-place goes to the United Kingdom, which received 3,677,361 cyberattacks. With a total of 2,561,688 cyberattacks on the United States, Germany is ranked fourth. South Korea is in fifth place, with 2,532,161 cyberattacks.

Nearly one-fifth of CEOs see cybersecurity as the biggest threat to organizations’ growth (Source)

Over the next three years, nearly one-fifth (18%) of CEOs regard cybersecurity threats as the most serious threat to their companies’ growth.

Concern over cybersecurity threats has risen dramatically among CEOs since last year, when it was ranked sixth on the list, with 10% of CEOs saying it posed a threat to their companies’ growth.

Virtual Private Network

VPN demand in Russia surges by nearly 2,000% in a week (Source)

Virtual Private Network (VPN) installs in Russia have increased by 1,906% in the previous few days, according to Atlas VPN user data. Following the first round of cyberattacks against Ukraine on February 16, 2022, demand in VPNs began to rise.

On February 24, the start of physical attacks in Ukraine triggered a never-before-seen jump in VPN demand. One after the other, VPN installs surpassed previous highs.

Installs of VPNs increased by 241% over the average on February 25. The next day, on February 26, VPN installs from Russia increased by 1,076% above the previous day’s average. Still, it wasn’t the end; the next day, VPN installs soared 1,906% above the average.

59% of Canadian organizations deployed VPNs to combat cyberattacks in 2020 (Source)

Virtual Private Network (VPN) was the most preferred cybersecurity tool among Canadian enterprises in 2020 to resist rising cyber threats. Last year, 59% of Canadian businesses used virtual private networks (VPNs).

The majority of Canadian businesses were hit by hackers last year. In 2020, 80% of businesses will have dealt with at least one internet attack. In comparison, in 2019, 71% of Canadian businesses suffered at least one cyberattack.

Global VPN downloads surge to 277 million in 2020, Arab countries lead (Source)

According to data based on Atlas VPN’s VPN Adoption Index, Virtual Private Network (VPN) reached 277 million downloads in 2020, from 85 selected countries.

A Virtual Private Network hides the user’s real IP address and encrypts their browsing traffic. This in turn prevents nosy 3rd parties like hackers, ISP (Internet Service Provider), or even the government from tracking the user’s online activities.

Also, individuals can change their IP address to access various streaming services that apply geographical restrictions.

Finally, people turn to VPNs when their country’s government blocks useful applications. One of the most common examples is VoIP services – short for Voice over Internet Protocol, or simply put, phone services over the Internet, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, etc.

Data leaks

Average data breach cost surpasses $4 million in 2021, record growth of 10% YoY (Source)

In 2021, the average financial loss caused by a data breach increased by 10% year over year to $4.24 million. Since the beginning of the reporting period in 2015, this is the largest increase in a single year.

A data breach can have a number of negative implications for a business, including lost sales, a tarnished reputation, data recovery fees, and possibly employee layoffs.

Over 5 billion personal records were leaked in Q1 of 2021 (Source)

In this age of technology, everyone who uses the Internet has a lot of personal information online. However, malicious cybercriminals find vulnerabilities in large companies that store sensitive data about you, and in the blink of an eye, it could all be stolen.

Over 5 billion records have already been leaked in 2021. One of the reasons for such a high number is the compilation of many data breaches (COMB), where about 3.27 billion records alone were compromised.

37 billion data records leaked in 2020, a growth of 140% YOY (Source)

The number of leaked records worldwide reached a whopping 37 billion in 2020. That’s a 140% increase from 15 billion records in 2019.

The majority – 82% or more than 30 billion records – were compromised in just five major security breaches. All of these were the result of misconfigured databases or services.

The most commonly exposed type of data was names, which were leaked in 46% of data breaches last year. Names were followed by email addresses, which were compromised in 32% of incidents.

Over 300 million individuals affected by the US data leaks in 2020 (Source)

Over 300 million individuals were affected in 1,108 US data breach and exposure incidents in 2020.

While the numbers for data breaches and disclosures last year are impressive, the number of such events actually dropped by nearly a fifth (19%) from 1,362 in 2019 to 1,108 in 2020.

The number of people affected also fell by 66%, from more than 887 million in 2019 to more than 300 million in 2020. In fact, the number last year was at its lowest level since 2015, when Data Identity Theft Resource Center first began tracking data breach and security risk statistics in the US.

Other significant cybercrime statistics

24% of Americans share work passwords with people outside the organization (Source)

Work passwords are shared with people outside of their employment by 24.39% of Americans. In the United States, many employees are not cautious about who they share their work-related passwords with.

This puts businesses at risk of being hacked if these credentials get into the hands of someone careless or malicious.

US military personnel lost over $822 million to scams since 2017 (Source)

Between 2017 and June 30, 2021, US military personnel lost $822.1 million to various forms of digital crime. The Federal Trade Commission received more than 836,374 allegations of fraud, identity theft, and other consumer complaints from military people (FTC).

These complaints are used as a starting point for criminal investigations by the FTC. The FTC does not conduct investigations into the complaints, but it does share the material with over 2,500 law enforcement organizations around the country.

65% of all DDoS attacks target US and UK (Source)

Cybercriminals that wish to disrupt online-dependent businesses frequently use distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults. Hackers regarded the epidemic as a chance to profit since many individuals moved to remote employment and online life as a result of the disease.

The United States and the United Kingdom are the targets of almost 65% of all distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults. Cybercriminals like to target computers and the internet industry.

Remote Desktop Protocol attacks surged by 241% in 2020 (Source)

Because of the remote work, employees began using client software from Microsoft called Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which is used to remotely access corporate resources.

Cybercriminals immediately saw this as an opportunity to hack into the company’s systems. As the shift away from home happened almost overnight, many improperly configured and thus insecure RDP servers were exposed.

US and Russia account for 54% of global spam volume within the last 180 days (Source)

Anyone with a digital inbox has encountered annoying spam emails that pop up unsolicited. But have you ever wondered where they come from?

54% of spam emails in the last six months came from two global superpowers – the United States and Russia.

UK’s cybersecurity firms hit over $12 billion in 2020 revenue (Source)

Cybersecurity has never been more important as the pandemic has forced many people to switch to remote work. Also, most entertainment options are closed, so people are using the internet to fill their free time. This situation is a great opportunity, and cybersecurity companies have not missed the chance to capitalize on it.

Online security companies in the UK took in nearly £8.88 billion (the equivalent of $ 12.51 billion) in fiscal 2020, a 7% increase from last year’s £8.3 billion ($11.69 billion).

The data shows that nearly three-quarters (74%) of online security revenue will go to large companies, accounting for nearly GBP6.6 billion or USD9.3 billion in 2020. Large companies are those with 250 or more employees.

While spammers in the US were responsible for a whopping 44% of the world’s spam, Russia followed in second place with nearly 10%.

RDP attacks skyrocketed 241% in 2020. In 2019, the number of RDP attacks was 969 million, but in 2020, threat actors carried out an incredible 3.3 billion attacks.

Google reports a record number of requests to disclose user information in 2020 H1 (Source)

For civil, administrative, criminal, and national security purposes, a number of laws allow government agencies around the world to request user information from Google.

These requests have been steadily increasing over the past five years. In the first half of 2020, Google reported a record number of requests for disclosure of user information.

The number of requests increased by 17,847 when comparing the first half of 2020 to the second half of 2019, a 21% increase. In addition, the number of internet users affected by these requests increased from 175,712 in the second half of 2019 to 235,449 in the first half of 2020, a 34% increase.

ATM hacks surged 269% in Europe in 2020 H1, recent findings reveal (Source)

Criminals have been targeting automated teller machines (ATMs) since they became available to the public. Many are already aware of scams where fraudsters plug a small device into the ATM to steal credit card information, commonly referred to as card skimming.

However, recent findings show that cybercriminals have begun hacking into ATMs with malware and logical attacks. A logical or malware attack is a type of cyber attack where threat actors modify the ATM software to access the ATM.

If the hackers gain access to the ATM, they can collect the credit card details of ATM users to create fake credit and debit cards. In addition, the hackers can collect the cash available on ATM, depending on which part of the software the criminals were able to access.

The number of malware and logical attacks on ATMs increased from 35 to 129 in the first half of 2020, a 269% increase year-over-year.

Generation Z is one of the most concerned about sharing their location data with the government (Source)

It’s no secret that tech companies have shared their user data with governments in the past. This makes many Americans uncomfortable with how their data is being handled.

50% of adults born in Generation Z are very uncomfortable sharing their location data, including where they have traveled, with the government. Along with Generation Baby Boomer, they are most concerned about protecting their personal data.

Over 150 US election-related mobile apps found to be dangerous or malicious (Source)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to use the Internet to learn about the election. In addition, a large portion of the population voted digitally. This shift created countless new attack vectors for cybercriminals.

Over 152 US election apps have vulnerability issues, and 16 mobile apps have malicious code in them.

In total, the research found 186 US election apps, 152 of which were deemed fraudulent or malicious. That means these apps claim to be authorized by the government or state, but really aren’t.

App Development Security is the most wanted cybersecurity skill in 2021 (Source)

The fastest-growing cybersecurity skill in 2021 is Application Development Security. Demand for this skill is expected to grow by164% in five years.

Last year, 29,635 job openings required knowledge of Application Development Security, which means we can expect 48,601 new jobs for specialists with this skill over the next five years. As the world becomes more mobile, the need for Application Development Security expertise also increases.

Over 60% of fraudsters request gift cards in business emails scams; eBay, Google Play cards most popular (Source)

Gift cards were the preferred payment method for 64% of fraudsters who used attacks to compromise business emails in the second half of 2020.

eBay gift cards were the most popular, with nearly a quarter (24%) of cybercriminals requesting eBay gift vouchers as a form of payment.

Business email compromise, or BEC, is a type of cybercrime where hackers attack businesses and organizations in order to defraud the company. As the name suggests, such attacks are carried out via email.

GDPR fines it over $1 billion in 2021 (source)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced by the European Union (EU) in 2018. The purpose of this Act was to provide EU individuals more control over their personal information and privacy. Organizations that ignored the law were hit with heavy fines, which continue to rise year after year.

GDPR fines totaled over €1 billion in 2021, with 412 total penalties imposed. In addition, the most serious penalties for violating GDPR legislation were paid by corporations like Amazon and WhatsApp.

TikTok tracks your data the most out of social media apps (Source)

Ad firms can use trackers to follow users across the internet and learn about their surfing patterns. While first-party trackers are retained directly by the website or app you’re using, third-party trackers might intrude on your privacy and provide tailored adverts depending on your choices.

Among social media apps, YouTube and TikTok contain the most trackers. Furthermore, applications in the magazine, news, and sports categories have the highest number of first- and third-party trackers.

1 in 3 automotive cyber incidents result in car theft or break-ins (Source)

According to the statistics, roughly 40% of instances in the last twelve years resulted in the victims’ identities being revealed in some way.

The second-most prevalent outcome of an automotive cyber incident is automobile theft or a break-in, which accounts for nearly a third (27.9%) of all incidents.

Romance scams cost Americans almost $350 million in 2021 (Source)

The pandemic was a delight for impersonators since it gave them a real reason to avoid meeting up in person, at least for the time being. As a result, scammers were able to carry out romantic scams on a far wider scale than before.

In the first three quarters of 2021, heartbroken victims lost an estimated $343 million. Impersonators defrauded people of all ages for $268 million in 2020. Money damages topped $342 million in Q1/Q3 2021, reflecting a 27.7% increase.

Crypto miners are the most common web threats (Source)

Users’ networks are routinely infiltrated without their knowledge by web threats, which can be activated by opening a spam email or clicking on an executable file attachment. Web hazards spread around the internet once they have infiltrated a system, infecting other PCs.

From October 2020 to September 2021, over 177,753 unique URLs with crypto miners created an online threat. Furthermore, the United States appears to be home to roughly 70% of all detected web threat domains.

PayPal and Mastercard most impersonated in financial phishing schemes in 2021 (Source)

In 2021, PayPal and Mastercard were the most commonly utilized payment methods in financial phishing scams. Furthermore, Apple and Amazon were the most commonly targeted e-commerce sites for phishing attacks.

PayPal was the most often utilized payment system brand in financial phishing assaults in 2021, accounting for 37.8%. Cybercriminals created a page that looks almost identical to PayPal’s login page and disseminated it via email.

Mastercard was the second most often attacked payment method, accounting for 12.2 percent of all attacks.

Americans suffered a whopping 50 billion robocalls in 2021 (Source)

In 2021, Americans were subjected to 50.5 billion robocalls, up 10% from the previous year. In the previous year, each impacted person in the United States received an average of 154 such calls.

If we look at robocalls’ historical data, we can observe that their number has been continuously increasing from 2016 to 2019, when they reached a new high of 58.5 calls each year. In 2020, amid the pandemic caused by call center closures, the number of robocalls in the United States fell by more than a fifth (22%) to 45.9 billion.

Social media attacks increased by 83% year-to-date (Source)

From January to September, the number of social media attacks increased by 83 percent. Furthermore, fraud-related social media threats accounted for the majority of attacks in Q3 2021.

In January 2021, the average target organization was subjected to roughly 34 social media attacks. In February, the number of social media attacks per single company increased by 25% to 42. In March, however, the average number of threats dropped to around 38.

Microsoft, Cloudflare, and Google emerge as the most spam-friendly ISPs (Source)

As of November 4th, 2021, Microsoft is the most spam-friendly ISP, with 433 current known spam concerns. Other multibillion-dollar Internet Service Providers, such as Cloudflare, which has 430 unresolved spam issues, and Google, which has 352 such issues, trail the American IT giant.

Chinanet GD is the fourth most spam-friendly ISP on the list. To now, the ISP has 331 spam complaints. Chinanet JS comes after Chinanet GD. It’s linked to 304 spam issues that are currently active.

Millennials and Gen Z members are the least likely to report cybercrime (Source)

Gen Zers (or zoomers) and Millennials are less likely than earlier generations to report cybercrime, according to research from the National Cybersecurity Alliance and CybSafe. Furthermore, members of Generation Z and Millennials are the most likely to be victims of cybercrime, which results in the loss of data or money.

Only 21% of Gen Zers aged 18 to 24 reported cybercrime to authorities, indicating that they are the least inclined to do so. The figure is surprising because one would think that the younger generation would be more aware of the necessity of cybersecurity. However, it appears that their early exposure to the internet has made children less cautious about sharing personal information online.

79% of enterprises have increased their adoption of advanced security (Source)

To address the rise in cyber attacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 79 percent of businesses have expanded their deployment of advanced protection technology.

According to the survey, 85 percent of large organizations increased their security budgets. If the pandemic taught businesses anything, it’s that cybersecurity is a commercial issue, not just a technical one, and it’s no longer considered a luxury but a need.

Source