Cyber Security Threats During a Recession

Cyber security professionals reviewing code on computer monitors

In today's digital age, cybersecurity has become a critical issue for businesses and organizations of all sizes. Unfortunately, during a recession, the threat of cyber-attacks only increases.

Quick Stats:

  • Historically, during a recession the number of cyber attacks increase. The FBI’s 2009 Internet Crime report saw a 22% increase in the number of complaints and the total dollar loss more than doubled YoY.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the need for more digital transformation, but it has also accelerated digital risks. In the FBI's 2022 Internet Crime report, there were 800,944 complaints totaling $10.2 billion in loss.
  • IBM’s 2022 Cost of a Data Breach report found that the average total cost of a data breach is $4.35M. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of companies will go out of business within six months of a data breach.

Additional Cyber Security Resources:

In periods of economic uncertainty, many business leaders are reassessing their budgets and looking for areas to trim back. Cybersecurity programs may mistakenly be seen as non-critical during this time. However, cybersecurity is more important than ever during an impending recession. Security threats are a major business issue, and a breach can have serious financial and reputational consequences.

When the Going Gets Tough, Cybercrime Gets Going

Whether we are in, or heading for, a recession doesn’t matter. Economic hardship historically guarantees that organizations will face increased cyberattacks.

2022 Global Threat Report

For security teams on the front lines and those of us in the business of stopping cyberattacks and breaches, 2021 provided no rest for the weary. In the face of massive disruption brought about by the COVID driven social, economic and technological shifts of 2020, adversaries refined their tradecraft to become even more sophisticated and brazen. The result was a series of high-profile attacks that rocked many organizations and, on their own, represented watershed moments in cybersecurity.

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Three Reasons to Prioritize Cybersecurity in a Recession

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