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Cybersecurity Statistics

• It is estimated that online advertising firms hold 72 million data points on the average child by the time they reach the age of 13, allowing marketers to target children’s vulnerabilities with extreme precision. (McCann, Duncan. “I-Spy: The Billion Dollar Business Of Surveillance Advertising To Kids.” New Economics Foundation (16 May 2021), https://neweconomics.org/uploads/files/i-Spy__NEF.pdf.) 

Cybersecurity Stats from a survey by Zogby Analytics for The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB) (2016):

• More than one-third of U.S. consumers experienced a computer virus, hacking incident or other cyber attack in the past 12 months, and young adults 18-24 were the most likely victims.

• Victims of cyber crimes almost always spent money to recover from the attack, primarily to restore data and purchase software. In 23 percent of the cases, people spent between $1,000 and $5,000 per incident, while 56 percent spent less than $500.

• The top two concerns among consumers were potential cyber-attacks (66 percent “somewhat” or “very” concerned) and online fraud (62 percent).

• Of the 37 percent of respondents who reported a cyber attack, almost half (42 percent) were in the 18-24 age group, compared with 34 percent of people ages 55-69 and 22 percent age 70 plus. The most common type of damage was a computer virus or other unwanted software (69 percent).

• Online fraud leading to theft of money or property was experienced by 18 percent of those surveyed. Younger people were the biggest targets, with 26 percent of victims ages 18-29, compared with 11 percent ages 65 and older. Despite the results, approximately 45 percent of those age 50 and older were very concerned about online fraud, compared with only 37 percent of those ages 18-29.

A cyber extortion threat or demand was experienced by 11 percent of respondents and 71 percent of the incidents involved demands for money to unlock fraudulently encrypted data. More than half of those affected (53 percent) refused to pay, although some paid multiple times — 15 percent of them four or more times.