It’s a couple of trillion less than the current 2017 US deficit, showing just how severe the cost of cyber crime is to business globally.
Today’s US deficit is US $20 trillion, but just under half that figure is what businesses will have to pay for cyber crime and data breaches over the next five years.
However, despite a 30% increase in cyber crime costs per annum, cyber security spend will increase at just 8% per annum, according to a new report by Juniper Research, clearly showing that while the spend on cyber security is increasing, it is not keeping pace with threats posed by data breaches.
Juniper’s new research is entitled "The Future of Cybercrime & Security: Enterprise Threats & Mitigation 2017-2022" and forecasts that "global cyber security spend will reach nearly US$135 billion in 2022, up from an estimated US$93 billion this year.’
Naturally, the research is aimed relevant audiences, and at relevant prices.
{loadposition alex08}The company’s analytical and research experts say that, over the next five years, "data breaches will have cost business a cumulative total of US$8 trillion in fines, lost business and remediation costs".
We’re told that the research "also found that businesses are now faced with a plethora of different cybersecurity solutions to choose from".
That’s an issue, because many "don’t integrate well with each other and require a high level of expertise and manpower to manage. This means that threats can be missed, and small businesses, which are more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, are the least able to effectively manage their security".
Juniper then talks about "the promise of AI for cyber security".
The company explains that, to deal with this "increasing complexity, several cyber security firms, like Cylance, Darktrace, Fortscale and Patternex are using machine learning to monitor network and program behaviours, detecting and eliminating many anomalies without involving a cyber security professional", and that "this can address the capability gap that SMEs face when considering cyber security".
Juniper says it "expects MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) to leverage AI (Artificial Intelligence) to provide more affordable services to these businesses, making the best of tight security budgets, and providing a mechanism to make the industry consolidate".
Research author James Moar remarked: “AI provides a solution for the cyber security market’s talent gap, performing similar roles to cyber security analysts.
“However, in order to succeed, these new approaches must also bring simplicity and interoperability to end users, in what is a very fragmented market.”
As per usual, there’s a free whitepaper with further details of the new research to tempt you into considering the purchase of the full report, and it's entitled "Cybercrime & the Internet of Threats 2017".
Here’s Juniper’s infographic on the top 10 largest data breaches in history.