Hacking Statistics

Data privacy and cybersecurity are two of the hottest topics in the world right now. As we analyze trends in this space, it’s only natural that we look at how hackers impact our lives and safety online.

After extensive research, I’ve found the most relevant and important hacking statistics that everyone needs to know.

This guide contains hacking statistics for businesses, consumers, mobile devices, social media, and more. We’ll also cover statistics related to the costs associated with cybersecurity, and you’ll learn more about some of the biggest hacks in history.

55 Hacking Statistics

Let’s start with ten of the most eye-opening hacking statistics:

1. Hacker attacks happen every 39 seconds.
2. More than 75% of all targeted cyberattacks begin with a single email.
3. Hackers create 300,000+ new types of malware each day.
4. 45% of all data breaches come from hacking.
5. On average, 75 records are stolen every second by hackers.
6. Cybercrime costs the global economy over $1 trillion each year.
7. 30,000 websites are hacked every day.
8. It’s estimated that hackers will steal 33 billion records in 2023.
9. Americans lose $15 billion per year from identity theft.
10. On average, it takes 196 days to identify a data breach.

If you think these stats are daunting, just wait until you read the rest of this guide.

Business Hacking Statistics

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are vulnerable to hacks. As you’ll see from the following statistics, cybersecurity needs to be a top priority for all companies worldwide.

11. There are over one million cybersecurity employees in the United States.

The demand for cybersecurity professionals is at an all-time high in the US. Currently, there are over one million people employed in a cybersecurity role. There are an additional 465,000+ cybersecurity job openings in the US alone.

12. 4.1+ million cybersecurity professionals are employed worldwide

According to Statista, there are over 4.1+ million cybersecurity employees across the globe. This is up from 3.5 million in 2020. That’s about a 17% increase from 2020 to 2021.

13. 65% of organizations have more than 1,000+ stale user accounts.

Stale employee accounts are an easy target for hackers. Since those accounts aren’t being monitored or protected, they pose significant vulnerabilities to businesses. As a best practice, your company should delete all user accounts of former employees.

14. 75% of companies are hacked via fraudulent emails.

Company email accounts are another top target for hackers. They can infiltrate systems via email by using phishing scams or malware.

Once an employee account is hacked, the hacker can continue gaining access to sensitive company files if you don’t have proper data security policies in place.

15. Businesses protect just 3% of folders online (and 88% of businesses have 1+ million folders).

Only 3% of company folders are secure. This is alarming, considering the vast majority of organizations have millions of folders company-wide.

While every folder might not contain sensitive data, it’s safe to assume that more than 3% of your folders contain information you wouldn’t want in the hands of a hacker.

16. There’s a ransomware attack on a business every 11 seconds.

Ransomware has been a growing threat for businesses over the past several years. These attacks happen more than 7,800+ times per day on businesses worldwide.

17. 68% of business leaders feel like their company’s risk of a hacking attack is increasing.

Organizational leaders understand the risks and threats associated with hacks against their companies. With that said, the majority of these leaders still feel vulnerable. Even as they beef up security, they still think the threat of an attack is increasing.

18. More than 50% of all hacks are committed against small and medium-sized businesses.

Don’t assume that your business is too small or not important enough for hackers. More than half of all cybersecurity attacks target small and mid-sized organizations.

These smaller companies often have weaker cybersecurity standards than their enterprise counterparts. This makes small businesses an easier target for hackers.

19. 75% of organizations have lost data from a cloud service more than one time.

Cloud hosting services have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. But more than two-thirds of businesses say they’ve lost data from these services multiple times.

This echoes the importance of keeping all data secure, whether it’s stored locally or in the cloud. These cloud service providers can be targeted by hackers as well.

20. 59% of consumers will avoid businesses that fall victim to hackers.

Aside from any sensitive information that’s stolen from your business, a hack can be detrimental to your brand image. More than half of consumers won’t do business with a company that was hacked or had a data breach.

User Hacking Statistics

In addition to businesses, individuals are also common targets of hackers. The stats below take a closer look at how hacking and cybercrime impact the lives of everyday people:

21. 58% of adults are worried now, more than ever before, about falling victim to cybercrime.

Cybercrime is top-of-mind for lots of people. In fact, studies show that people are more worried about cyberattacks than physical attacks or other crimes.

22. 53% of adults say they don’t know how to protect themselves against hacks and online crime.

Even though people are worried about falling victim to hackers, more than half of consumers don’t know how to protect themselves from internet crime.

23. 63% of consumers are worried about identity theft.

Of all types of hacks against people, identity theft is the biggest concern.

These concerns are valid, as 47% of Americans were victims of financial identity theft in 2020. 90% of Americans encountered a fraud attempt within the past year. 30% of identity theft victims have experienced this more than once.

24. 46% of US adults wouldn’t know what to do if their identity was stolen.

What would you do if your identity was stolen?

Nearly half of American adults wouldn’t know what to do. This is largely due to the lack of education on the subject.

25. 78% of people are worried about data privacy.

Nearly eight in ten consumers say they are worried about data privacy online.

Things like the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California are steps in the right direction. These laws put stricter policies in place for businesses collecting, processing, and storing user data. With that said, most people are still worried about how their data is being used online.

26. 27% of people don’t use public wifi in an effort to protect against hacks.

More than one-fourth of people won’t connect to a public internet connection. They believe that coffee shops and other common public wifi locations are more susceptible to hacks and cybercrime.

27. 13% of consumers use VPNs to protect their privacy online.

VPNs are growing in popularity. Outside of business use, many individual users are turning to VPN services in an effort to stay safe online. With that said, VPNs aren’t necessarily immune to hackers.

28. 91% of people understand the risks associated with using the same password for multiple accounts, but 66% do it regardless.

The vast majority of people know that using the same password across accounts puts them at an increased risk for cybercrime. But two-thirds of people continue to follow this dangerous practice.

29. 41% of people don’t think their information is valuable enough to hackers.

Many consumers don’t believe their information is worth the time and hassle of a hacker. But this type of mindset is one of the many reasons why we’ve seen such an increase in hacks against individuals year over year.

30. 1 in 50 children is impacted by identity fraud.

Adults aren’t the only target of cybercriminals. The 1 in 50 children with identities stolen online is costing US families nearly $1 billion per year.

Costs Associated With Hacking and Cybercrime

Cybercrime attacks and prevention are equally expensive. The numbers speak for themselves:

31. Cybersecurity spending eclipsed $60 billion worldwide in 2021.

This number accounts for cybersecurity spending in both the commercial and consumer sectors. According to Statista, this is up from $40.8 billion in 2019. That’s almost a 50% increase in just two years.

32. The average cost of a malware attack on a business is $2.6 million.

Malware attacks can be detrimental to an organization. While the cost varies by industry and company size, the average cost of a malware attack for businesses is $2.6 million.

33. Data breaches in the healthcare industry cost $713 million, on average.

Speaking of industry variations, organizations in the healthcare sector have fallen victim to the most expensive data breaches. On average, a healthcare company data breach costs the business $713 million.

34. The average cost of lost business due to hackers and cybercrime is $1.52 million.

Aside from financial theft, hacking also leads to loss of business. On average, companies can expect to lose $1.52 million in lost business after a hack or data breach.

35. 50% of companies with over 10,000+ employees spend over $1+ million per year on cybersecurity.

Enterprise organizations are the biggest spenders in the effort to fight against cybercrime. Half of these companies spend more than $1 million per year on cybersecurity.

36. Damage related to hacking is projected to reach $10.5 trillion per year by 2025.

The costs related to cybercrime aren’t slowing down in the near future. Experts predict that the damage from hackers will globally cost us $10.5 trillion each year.

37. According to IBM, COVID-19 and remote work resulted in more expensive data breaches in 2021.

As companies shifted to working remotely, IBM discovered that the average cost of a breach was $1.07 million higher when remote work was involved.

This could explain why 2021 was the most expensive year for companies in the 17-year history that IBM has been conducting its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report.

Mobile Hacking Statistics

Everything mobile has been trending upward for years now. So it should come as no surprise to see mobile hacking trends increasing as well.

38. 70% of internet fraud is achieved via mobile devices.

The majority of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Hackers recognize this, and they’re able to commit cybercrimes with them as well.

39. One in five hacks can be traced to rogue mobile apps.

Rogue mobile apps can be defined as counterfeit apps that duplicate the brand image of a trusted company. Mobile users think they’re downloading an app from a trusted business, but they accidentally install a fraudulent app.

40. 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked from app stores every day.

Hackers attempt to get tens of thousands of malicious apps into trusted app stores on a daily basis. Generally speaking, the big-name app stores do a good job of keeping those apps out.

41. High-risk mobile apps are installed on one in 36 mobile devices.

There’s a 3% chance that you have a high-risk mobile app installed on your smartphone or tablet.

42. 99% of mobile malware threats are hosted on third-party app stores.

Most dangerous mobile apps aren’t coming from major app stores. To protect yourself and employees from malware threats, make sure you’re only installing apps from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Social Media Hacking Statistics

As social media usage increases, hackers continuously look for new ways to exploit users on popular social platforms.

43. 30 million Facebook accounts were hacked in a 2018 data breach.

Hackers used 400,000 accounts to get access tokens for 30 million different Facebook users. The stolen data included names, email addresses, check-in locations, and more.

44. Social media fraud attacks are increasing by 43% each year.

Attacks from hackers on social media accounts are rising by more than 40% year over year.

45. 11% of people have deleted a social media account to protect themselves from hackers.

As a preventative measure against social media fraud and online attacks, just over one in ten users have deleted at least one social media account.

46. An attempted social media account takeover occurs 30 times per year on corporate accounts.

In addition to individual social media users, business accounts are also vulnerable to hacks. In fact, the average corporate social media account faces 30 attempted breaches per year.

IoT Hacking Statistics

The internet of things, better known as IoT, refers to physical objects connected to the internet and other communication networks. This includes smart TVs, smart appliances, smart home security systems, wireless inventory trackers, and more.

47. 22% of people have detected malware on an IoT-enabled device.

Roughly one in five IoT consumers have found malware on an IoT-connected device.

48. IoT malware is rising by 30% each year.

Malware on IoT devices is growing steadily. We’re seeing an increase in hacks growing by 30% each year.

49. 75% of IoT attacks can be traced to infected routers.

The vast majority of IoT hacks are caused by infected routers. Hackers have clearly identified vulnerabilities in routers and used this to exploit IoT devices.

50. Cameras accounted for 15% of IoT hacks.

Smart cameras account for 15% of all IoT hacks. This is alarming, considering we have cameras positioned in our homes, offices, and other personal spaces.

Infamous Hacks

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most infamous hacks in history. These real-life examples tell the story of how some of the world’s most recognized companies were hacked.

51. 3 billion user accounts were compromised in a 2016 Yahoo data breach.

Yahoo is responsible for one of the biggest data breaches in global history.

Back in 2016, the company publicly released a statement saying that 500 million user accounts were compromised in a 2014 hack. The company then said that a 2013 hack led to one billion user accounts falling into the hands of hackers.

The full story was finally told in 2017. Yahoo came out and admitted that a total of three billion user accounts were compromised during the hack.

52. Data from 500 million users was stolen in a 2014 hack against Marriott International.

One of the world’s most popular hotel chains also fell victim to hackers.

This included over 100+ million credit card numbers and expiration dates. The remaining 400+ million users had private data compromised, including names and passport numbers.

53. In 2018, Hackers stole $13.4 million from Cosmos Bank in India.

Cosmos Bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in India.

Hackers ran 15,000+ fraudulent transactions using about 12,000 credit card numbers that were stolen from the Cosmos Bank database.

54. Hackers stole 145.5 million US social security numbers and 209,000 credit card numbers from the infamous Equifax breach.

Equifax is one of the largest consumer credit reporting agencies in the world. This means they collect and process some of the most sensitive types of consumer data.

In 2017, hackers got their hands on more than 145 million social security numbers. Experts estimate that this sensitive information was taken and sold on the dark web.

55. Uber reported that hackers stole information from 57+ million drivers and riders in 2016.

Uber has become one of the most well-recognized names in the way we get around.

Hackers stole personal information from both drivers and riders in Uber’s system. Uber then paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the stolen data and keep the incident private. This decision proved to be even more costly for the company, as they were ultimately forced to pay $148 million in settlement claims.