As you prepare to enjoy your annual Thanksgiving Day feast with family and friends, it’s a perfect time to learn about some important positive cybersecurity stats and trends. Reading good news about cybersecurity issues is a pleasant change that will go well with the festive holiday season.
Although cybercrime continues to be a substantial threat for small businesses and nonprofits, it is encouraging to learn that organizations are more aware of the problem as well as increasing their investment in technology and training to improve their network defenses. There is also a growing sense of optimism because of the rapidly increasing amount of public and private investment targeted at promoting and expanding a highly skilled cybersecurity workforce.
Positive Cybersecurity Trends and Statistics
The following positive statistics were provided by ThoughtLab, PwC Research, Forbes, Cybercrime Magazine, DataProt, SecureList, Cybersecurity Ventures, Gartner, AAG IT, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ArcServe, Marsh, and ISACA.
Increased spending on cybersecurity
- Cybersecurity experts predict that global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed $1.75 trillion cumulatively over the next five years. This considerable spending is expected to increase 15 percent year-over-year.
- Cybersecurity budgets as a percentage of firms’ total revenue jumped 51%.
- 66% of organizations expect their cybersecurity budget to grow in the coming year.
- 46% of companies report that their top cybersecurity investment is upskilling cybersecurity and IT staff.
Greater awareness of the cybersecurity threat
- 70% of consumers believe companies aren’t doing enough to secure their personal data.
- 30% of executives say their budgets aren’t sufficient to ensure proper cybersecurity.
- 63% of companies have some form of email security measure.
- 55% of companies run internal cyber security assessments.
- Security experts predict the global security awareness training market will exceed $10 billion annually by 2027, up from around $5.6 billion in 2023. This figure is based on a 15% year-over-year growth.
- There are over 90 cybersecurity global industry associations.
- The world’s first and only radio station devoted to cybercrime and cybersecurity, WCYB Cybercrime Radio, launched on July 15, 2021.
Improved awareness of the threat from business partners and 3rd Party vendors
- By 2025, experts estimate that 60% of organizations will use cybersecurity risk as a key factor when determining transactions and business engagements with third parties.
- Organizations are minimizing third-party risks by auditing or verifying their suppliers’ compliance (46%), helping third parties improve their cybersecurity (42%), refining criteria for third-party onboarding and conducting ongoing assessments (42%), and addressing the challenges involved in cyber resilience (40%).
More effective cybersecurity tools with a focus on AI
AI and ML assist IT security specialists by quickly recognizing odd behaviors, analyzing vulnerabilities, and sending alerts on possible threats. These tools make it possible to automate these and other activities and let employees focus on different tasks. The use of AI, ML, and other advanced tools will continue to dramatically improve cybersecurity defenses.
- 64% of respondents said they have utilized AI for security capabilities, and another 29% said they were considering it.
- 5,520,908 mobile malware, adware, and riskware attacks were blocked last year.
- 405,684 malicious installation packages were detected and blocked last year; the leading types of packages were mobile banking trojans.
- Continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) programs for managing the cybersecurity attack surface have become more prevalent. Experts predict that by 2026, organizations prioritizing CTEM security investments will experience two-thirds fewer security breaches.
Increased utilization of cyber insurance
- 33% of US companies have purchased data-breach insurance coverage or cyber liability insurance.
- The cyber insurance market is expected to be worth $20 billion by 2025 and will exceed $34 billion by 2031.
- The rising cost of cyber insurance is slowing down. Policy pricing increased on average by 11 percent in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2023, compared to 28 percent in Q1 2022.
Greater investment in cybersecurity technology and companies
- Microsoft is increasing its cybersecurity investment to $20 billion over the next five years, up from $1 billion per year.
- There was more than $23 billion in venture capital devoted to cybersecurity companies last year and investment is increasing rapidly.
- Cybersecurity Ventures annually publishes a Pure Cyber 100 list of cybersecurity startups with $100 million or more in VC funding over the past two years.
- In 2021, Google announced an investment of more than $10 billion through 2025 in cybersecurity. The effort will include helping to secure the supply chain and strengthening open-source security.
The cybersecurity workforce is growing to meet high demand
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the employment of information security analysts will grow 35 percent from 2021 to 2031, compared to the 5 percent average growth rate for all occupations.
- The cybersecurity unemployment rate for the most experienced positions is at zero percent and is expected to remain so for many years.
- Women are becoming increasingly interested in cybersecurity jobs. They held 25 percent of cybersecurity jobs globally in 2022, up from 20 percent in 2019 and around 10 percent in 2013. Experts predict that women will represent 30 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce by 2025, increasing to 35 percent by 2031.
- Microsoft launched a national campaign with U.S. community colleges to help place 250,000 people into the cybersecurity workforce by 2025, which will fill half of the country’s labor shortage.
- Google is training 100,000 Americans for vital data privacy and security jobs.
- IBM has committed to providing 30 million people with learning opportunities to fill skills gaps in the technology sector, cybersecurity included, by 2030. Their partnerships extend to NGOs focusing on underserved youth, women, and military veterans.
More qualified IT security experts are available for assistance
An important trend to be thankful for is that the number of dependable IT security partners available to assist you in protecting your organization continues to grow steadily.
We strongly recommend that your small business take the time to consult and work with a trusted IT security partner, like Network Depot, to most effectively protect yourself against the significant cybersecurity threat. Your reliable IT partner will help you select and implement the right cybersecurity tools and solutions that will work best for your unique organization.
Now that you have learned about these positive cybersecurity trends and statistics, it’s time to get excited about a wonderful holiday with family and friends.
All of us at Network Depot wish you an enjoyable Thanksgiving feast with friends and family!