This is one of the many statistics that illustrate the rise in hacking and phishing. The subject of phishing, in particular, has played big roles and some of the largest data breaches recently.

An example of this would be the 2014 Sony Pictures breach perpetrated is to be believed by North Korea per the US Department of Justice. in this instance, it only took one email being opened by an employee to provide malicious actors a way to take control of Sony’s network.

A common thing we see among phishing attacks is impersonating an actual employee inside of the business.  Some Phishing messages have even been reported as coming from the CEO of the company and play off of existing relationships to convince the victim to part with confidential information.

Phishing attacks don’t just happen on traditional computers but also mobile devices as well.

Even more modern security measures such as two-factor authentication can also be targeted by phishing. The hackers of today are able to create fake login pages to get the information of a target and then use that information to access the actual website.

The cybersecurity industry is experiencing a growth that is almost unparalleled across any other industry even taking into account historical figures. Some people say that the growth in the need of cybersecurity is going to create the biggest wealth transfer we have seen in our lifetime.  

With every aspect of our life being fine-tuned with the use of data, making sure that data is secure is becoming a top priority around the globe. This is being reflected in the massive growth of the cybersecurity industry and the massive demand for individuals who have been trained to keep data safe.

The Growth of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is the fastest growing technology sector out there. And with cybercrime at an all-time high, the cybersecurity niche is set for massive growth over the next 5 years.

The amount of money that individuals and businesses spend on cybersecurity is growing and is expected to be over $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years, from 2017 to 2021.

Cybercrime and security breaches are continuing to cost businesses and individuals more and more money.  The amount of damage done is expected to be $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015 according to Robert Herjavec, the founder and CEO of Herjavec Group, a Managed Security Services Provider.

There is an expectation that there will be 1.5 million cybersecurity job openings by 2019, a huge increase from just 1 million in 2016. By 2019, the demand is expected to increase to somewhere around 6 million globally according to Cybersecurity Ventures.