cyber security statistics

Top Cybersecurity Statistics for 2016

One of the best tactics to take advantage of when marketing any subject, especially cybersecurity, is research and the use of statistics. Cybersecurity statistics in the form of facts, surveys, majority or minority opinions and overall feelings about an industry strengthen the points and insight you’re trying to underline in your marketing efforts.

Using statistics to point to a larger trend shows readers that the company, service or product is contributing to a bigger conversation. Being original is ideal, but being isolated is not.

Weaving statistics throughout an innovative, thought-provoking piece achieves both leadership in the industry and illustrates awareness of what people are thinking, feeling and talking about.

Some statistics stand out and can be used in many different types of marketing. Here we take a look at some cybersecurity statistics that will be important in 2016:

Healthcare Attacks

The cybersecurity statistics emerging from 2015 are from the major breaches that struck healthcare companies, such as the major Anthem breach from February of last year that compromised 80 million records. Since 2009, a full one-third of Americans have been the victims of a healthcare company breach. Such sensitive information is vulnerable because of its nature, making the rising numbers of hacks unsurprising.

This should mean healthcare companies are taking more precautions and putting more security in place to protect customer data, which gives cybersecurity companies and their marketers a clearly defined target audience.

Follow the Money

Cybersecurity statistics - boogeymanA 2015 study from the Ponemon Institute found cyber crime costs have risen 19% in just one year. Last year, a hack and its consequences globally cost companies an average of $7.7 million.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey found that, in 2015, nearly 20% of global companies implemented a cybersecurity budget between $1 million and $4.9 million.

Investments in cybersecurity firms have grown wildly in recent years. In the first half of 2015 alone, investors poured $1.2 billion into cybersecurity startups. It was estimated at year’s end, about $77 billion in investments would end up in the cybersecurity sector. One report indicates the cybersecurity market will be worth as much as $170 billion by 2020.

Cybersecurity Statistics: Action, Feelings and Reports

Cybersecurity businesses like to gauge how other companies around the world are viewing, using and feeling about their industry. Many surveys report what preventative measures professionals – from C-suite executives to entry-level employees, are implementing in terms of cybersecurity education and tools.

The PwC survey revealed a few important statistics about what the majority of companies are practicing:

  • 58% of global companies have an overall security strategy
  • 53% have employee security-awareness and training programs
  • 52% have security standards for third-parties
  • 54% have a CISO in charge of security
  • 49% conduct threat assessments
  • 48% actively monitor and analyze security intelligence

On the other end of the spectrum, a KPMG study on global CEOs of companies with more than $500 million in revenue revealed that 50% of CEOs do not feel prepared for a cyber attack.

Types of Threats

Breaking cybersecurity down into the types of attacks threatening a company, the statistics show two major trends:

  1. Insider threats
  2. Outside threats

Types of cybersecurity threats

An insider threat is an attack or theft of data carried out by an employee of the company. The SANS 2015 Survey on Insider Threats showed 74% of CISOs are concerned about employees stealing information. The PwC survey reported that 34% of incidents in 2015 resulted from attacks by current employees and 28% were conducted by former employees.

Outside threats come in many forms, but are often perpetrated by hackers, organized crime outfits, activists or other parties. The majority of attacks – nearly 80%, are from external parties. They accomplish hacks within minutes using one of several different methods, including phishing, credential theft, RAM scraping or spyware.

Cybersecurity Statistics: Here, There, Everywhere

These are some very telling statistics from the past year in cybersecurity. They show what happened, how much money was involved, and the roles different employees play in a company’s cyber protection.

When using these statistics for marketing, it’s essential to link to the original source. A good stat bolsters a point, and too many numbers weigh down a piece.

Hopefully these statistics can jumpstart your cybersecurity marketing efforts in 2016.

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19 Comments

  • Yuval

    January 17, 2016

    Cybersecurity is indeed becomming increasingly important as time goes by. As a representetive of the consumer side of cybersecurity services I’ve witnessed the raise in hacking attempts and overall hackers activity & abillity in the last few years. The increasing use of statistics would help poeple like me advocate for increasing cybersecurity budget in management meetings.

    Great piece

    Reply
    • Ally Benoliel

      February 3, 2016

      Yuval,

      Couldn’t agree more. Increasing cybersecurity budgets for 2016 should be on everyone’s to-do list at this point.

      Thanks for your feedback!

      Reply
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