In January 2020, the coronavirus outbreak began to grab media attention around the world. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. From that day on, life around the world has changed. Busy streets were empty, hospital beds became overcrowded, and businessmen faced a difficult choice - to close or not close their factories (and in some cases, even permanently).
The rise in cyber attacks is common during times of crisis.In 2008, the global economic crisis led to cyber attacks as the capital of companies dwindled and citizens became an easy target. Cyber ​​criminals prey on social vulnerabilities, and the COVID-19 coronavirus is no exception. The cybersecurity landscape in 2020 followed the lead of its predecessor during a severe economic downturn.
Even in its early stages, we can see the impact of COVID-19 on home and corporate users, as illustrated by the information security statistics below for 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic below.
Key points:
- COVID-19 can already be classified as the largest information security threat.
- Cyber ​​attacks are most prevalent in the healthcare and financial sectors.
- Email phishing attacks have become the most common source of data leakage during telecommuting of enterprise employees.
- Despite the heightened level of cyber security threats, it is still predicted that organizations will cut their cyber security budgets in 2021.
Data breach statistics by industry
Cybercriminals are running rampant through vulnerable industries in the wake of COVID-19, but not all industries have been hit equally. Healthcare and financial services face the biggest security challenges in 2020 due to their vulnerability to the global crisis.
However, it cannot be said that other industries were not affected. For example, since January, cyber attacks have intensified worldwide against both local governments and small businesses.
- 2020 98% (Verizon)
- ( 7,13 ) (IBM)
- 2020 3217 (Digital Shadows)
- 8000 ,
- , 8000 (U.S. PIRG)
- 2020 , , , , (Microsoft)
- 52% , (Gartner)
- 10 OCIE , (SEC)
- 58% (Verizon)
As organizations around the world try to adapt to the teleworking of their employees, a massive increase in data breaches has become widespread. Information security expert Frank S. Rietta of DevelopIntelligence explains: “The biggest challenge for many organizations, which shouldn't have been a problem, is how to deal with a situation where 70-90% of employees work remotely. The technology to enable teams to work securely from home has been around for years, but adoption has been slow due to organizational inertia and over-reliance on network security rather than cloud environments. This is a structural, not a technological problem. "
- 47% , (Tessian)
- - 2019 43% (Verizon)
- 52% - - COVID-19 (Gartner)
- 137 000 (IBM)
- 81% , ((ISC)²)
- 83% , 36% (CompTIA)
- « » 2020 42% (Google Trends)
- 2020 VPN 8,3% (WatchGuard)
- 76% , (IBM)
-,
We are seeing an explosive growth in cyber threats in 2020, exploiting the needs and fears of people around the world.
“This is social engineering at its worst - unfortunately, but most likely it will work in these uncertain times. People haven't gotten more gullible in the past six months, but they are used to big changes in small messages. When news headlines are rocked by security or disease issues, it is much easier to believe the information that appears right in your inbox, ”explains Cindy Murphy, President of Digital Forensics at Tetra Defense
- In the United States, 33,000 unemployment claimants faced cybersecurity breaches in May as part of an unemployment pandemic relief program. ( NBC )
- 400%, COVID-19 (ReedSmith)
- Google 18 , (Google)
- Zoom « » (CPO Magazine)
- 1767 (Palo Alto Networks)
- 471 -, , COVID-19 (ZDNet)
- In April, 450 active emails from the World Health Organization (WHO) and thousands of emails from the COVID-19 ( WHO ) response team were leaked
- Traffic on popular hacker sites and forums increased by 66% between March and May 2020 ( cybernews )
Information security spending during the coronavirus
While companies and governments are hit hardest by threats, anticipated budgets have shown no signs of fighting these attacks. In addition, it has become commonplace for those affected by the loss of funding to suffer in any way from at least one COVID-19 coronavirus scam.
- - 3,86 , 280 (IBM)
- 2020 438 (Gartner)
- 54% , - COVID-19, - (Computing)
- Zoom $ 0,0020 « » (CPO Magazine)
- 2021 - 6 . (Cybersecurity Ventures)
- Global organization spending on information security is expected to decrease by 8% in 2020 ( Statista )
- 70% of security executives and security buyers predict cyber security budgets will shrink in 2021, but they still plan to request a significant budget increase ( McKinsey )
- On average, personally identifiable customer data costs $ 150 per record ( IBM )
Cyber ​​attack statistics by country
The chronology of cyber attacks ranged from North America to the Asia-Pacific region. Information security risks appear to have followed the virus, as East Asian countries saw their first attacks before their Western counterparts.
- 2020 , 191 (Gartner)
- , , , (Microsoft)
- , COVID-19, 11 8 (Action Fraud)
- 85% (Verizon)
- CISA , COVID-19 ()
- 65% (SC Media)
- (DARKreading)
- - . , - (Europol)
- 2020 - 216 001 (WatchGuard)
- Average damage from information security breaches in the United States is the highest of any other country in the world - $ 8.64 million ( IBM )
These statistics on information security in the era of the COVID-19 coronavirus provide a glimpse into the future of computing trends. It is possible that services will become more cloud-centric. Time will tell what the next generation of technology will have for home users, authorities or businesses and organizations, but in any case, it is always necessary to remain vigilant and use cross-platform comprehensive antivirus protection.