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Criminal data breaches forecast to cost global business $8 trillion in next five years: Juniper


May 30, 2017   by Canadian Underwriter


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Higher levels of Internet connectivity and inadequate enterprise-wide security are expected to pave the way for criminal data breaches costing businesses around the world about $8 trillion over the next five years, suggests U.K.-based Juniper Research.

Research released Tuesday indicates that 2.8 billion customer data records will be stolen over the course of 2017.

And despite the emergence of new and innovative cyber security solutions, the number criminal data breaches is forecast to almost double to 5 billion in 2020, reports The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Enterprise Threats & Mitigation 2017-2022, which provides an examination of the current market environment and threat landscape for cyber security.

The research “highlights cyber security problems becoming particularly acute when businesses integrate new and old systems without regard to overall network security,” notes a statement from Juniper Research.

At particular risk from cyber attacks and criminal data breaches are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are spending less than $4,000 on cyber security measures this year, the firm reports, adding only marginal increases in security spend are expected over the next five years.

“These firms also tend to run older software, which WannaCry and other recent cyber attacks have exploited,” Juniper Research cautions.

Related: WannaCry ransomware attack “arguably the first ever cyber-catastrophe”: RMS cyber expert

The firm contends that cyber security “should be treated as a vital element of workplace safety,” emphasizing the need for companies to funnel more money into cyber security and system upkeep.

“Businesses of all sizes need to find the time and budget to upgrade and secure their systems, or lose the ability to perform their jobs safely, or at all,” maintains research author James Moar.

Related: Many global Internet users unprepared for dealing with ransomware attack, study finds

Juniper Research’s threat analysis further indicates concerns around ransomware.

“Ransomware-as-a-service is here,” the statement notes. It is expected to “rapidly develop into simple-to-use toolkits, the same way banking Trojans developed into ‘products’ that required little or no programming knowledge to use.”

With the advances in ransomware, ransoming stored data and devices is becoming “easier and more valuable than stealing financial details,” the company points out.

Related: IoT botnets present unmanageable cyber security risk: Juniper Research


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