McAfee reveals cybercrime outlays the world over $1 trillion, a 50% surge from 2018.
With the increasing cyber-attacks across the world, cybercrime now costs more than one percent of global GDP – which is more than $1 trillion, claims the latest McAfee study. This is up by 50% from a 2018 research that put total losses approximately to $600 billion.
Beyond the comprehensive figure, the overall damage is beyond financial losses and the absence of work hours. The study indicated that nearly 92% of companies felt its impact outside of just monetary losses. For instance, there could be an interruption in operations for 18 hours on average.
The frequency and severity of cyber-attacks on enterprises continue to increase as techniques evolve. Today innovative technologies widen the threat surface – with the work environment expanding to home and remote locations.
While the government and marketplace are aware of the national security and financial implications of cyber threats – the cost of scrutinizing breaches and disruption to productivity signify less appreciated, high impact costs. In fact, 33% of IT leaders revealed a security incident that results in system downtime cost almost $100,000 to $500,000.
Read More: Enterprise Security Demands a Holistic Approach amid Surging Cyber-attacks
As Steve Grobman, CTO and SVP at McAfee mentioned in the company blog post – “We need a greater understanding of the comprehensive impact of cyber risk and effective plans in place to respond and prevent cyber incidents given the 100s of billions of dollars of global financial impact.”
The Unseen Expenses of Cybercrime
Intellectual property and monetary asset thefts are damaging; however, the most ignored cybercrime costs arise from business performance damage. Most organizations felt there were many severe, adverse effects on their operations after a cyber-attack.
As per the study, the most common hidden costs and the lasting impact that cybercrime can have on an enterprise are –
- Systems Downtime
- Reduced productivity and efficiency
- Costs of incidence response
- Brand and status damage
Attacks on Unprepared Organizations
Unsurprisingly, there is a lack of understanding of cyber risks among organizations. This makes them vulnerable to sophisticated social engineering and reverse engineering tactics used by hackers. Once a user is hacked, it is crucial to recognize the problem in time – in order to stop the spread.
About 56% of organizations indicated that they do not have a plan handy to prevent or respond to a cyber-attack. Though many IT professionals said that their companies had a response plan ready, only 32% noted it was effective.
Read More: Dell Study – Cyber-attacks and Disruptive Events Spike amid COVID-19
Clearly, to manage cybercrimes successfully, CISO needs to be ready with uniform implementation of standard security measures, standardization and coordination of cybersecurity requirements, and augmented transparency by organizations and governments. Besides, it is essential to provide awareness training for employees while developing cyber-attack prevention and response plans.
