In Hindsight… Cybercrime is a hidden and burgeoning industry that has taken the world by storm. It is a phenomenon, apparently in its infancy, that can cost you heavily—whether you are the victim of credit or identity theft, or if your business gets hacked. The rise of technology has not impacted our security concerns; instead, it has made us more at risk than ever before. Just 60 days into this year, and we already have cyber-attacks accounting for 5,127,241 data breached records. Funnily enough, these numbers are considered to be “low,” but a note to the wise says that there’s hefty money involved in cybercrime. Let alone Log4j vulnerabilities, another sign of the influence of cybercrime in 2021 was the cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange and Solar Winds that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to their businesses. The financial cost of this is unknown, but it could have been even larger had it not been for the quick work done by Microsoft’s IT team’s preparedness.

Money involved in cybercrime

The Internet is full of scams, frauds, and other nefarious activities. The recent “carding” attack was one in a long series of cybercrimes that have brought the world’s attention to the dark side of cyberspace. And while there are good things that come from the Internet as well, they seem to be few and far between. That’s where this blog comes in. In this blog, we are going to show you how cybercriminals spend the millions of dollars that they earn each year from various internet scams AND how much money these cybercrimes can cost your business. Hopefully, by looking at the money involved in cybercrimes, your popped-out eyes can see potential threats better.

Money involved in cybercrime- Cyber criminals’ POV

According to the Into The Web of Profit survey, 30% of cybercriminals put their money into high-value assets like real estate, art, and wine, 20% on drugs and the sex business, 20% on reinvestment in cybercrime to extort more money, 11% on travel and visas, 9% on high-end cars, and the other 10% on immediate requirements like food and bills. This information about money involved in cybercrime will never come out of the mouths of cybercriminals by themselves, but by cybersecur-ers. Surprise #1, coming along, is that the biggest bucks are spent on buying guns and other weapons. Surprise #2 is that an average cybercriminal earns from $1400 to $3200 per month, while it shouldn’t be a shocker that studies have shown that cyber criminals can earn up to $2 million a year!! Please don’t plan to switch careers.

Money involved in cybercrime- Businesses’ POV

Computer and network crime can cost every company and individual an estimated $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 should current trends continue, according to a new research report by IBM’s Institute for Business Value. And in this digital era, it is almost impossible to eradicate. The problem is huge. The report found that the median annual IT budget for the firms surveyed was $1 million, but those companies exposed themselves to just about double that amount of cybercrime per year. The security challenge, however, extends far beyond the IT budget, according to the report. It found that business executives surveyed estimate it will cost organizations more than $3.7 trillion in annual “pain points” related to just data breaches and thefts within the next couple of years, including costs related to:

• Lost productivity due to security incidents and interruptions in service.
• An increase in insurance premiums and
• Legal fees

The Verizon survey indicates that 82% of consumers would spend an additional $1 per month to ensure better protection for their data stored on a personal digital assistant. It started in 1834, when a pair of thieves hacked the French Telegraph System to steal financial market information, effectively conducting the world’s first cyberattack. This hasn’t stopped even though it’s pretty clear that the majority of these attacks are preventable and that even more can be saved by:

• Cyber proofing product design;
• Investing on latest protection technologies
• Updating to the operating system and device software;
• Building up security as a core competency; and, of course, through education and technology adoption.

In Foresight…

Though cybercrime has severely compromised what had been a secure and productive working environment, these attacks have helped to advance the industry of crime further. This is because attackers know that they can make more money if they attack certain companies, as opposed to trying to steal money through retail. **Pun intended** There have been cases where a singular gesture of teamwork could have prevented an attack had it not been for a single individual’s lack of foresight. To prevent these kinds of incidents, you need to strengthen your IT team members’ skills and knowledge. This means that, regardless of whether you are a small business or a large organization, there are steps you can take right now that will help keep your company safe from cybercrime and keep you at bay from the money involved in cybercrime.

1. The best thing you can do before thinking about protecting yourself and your business is to identify what you are up against.

1. The next step is to start doing some research on cybersecurity and security policies, then get involved in the process, helping your team understand the scope of your future.

1. Installation of latest technologies to prevent the enhanced cyber-attacks. Companies to consider such spending as investment rather than expense.
2. Involving cyber security focused companies as part of your cyber secure journey may help fill the internal skill gaps.

In Conclusion…

Speaking of money involved in cybercrime, criminals have an insatiable appetite for money, which is a potent driver of cyberattacks and demonstrates what an adaptable and profitable business model cybercrime can be. Also, cybercriminals are positively motivated by money, quite unlike “script kiddies,” who have no interest in money. We hope you have realized that cybercrime is a business, and criminals are not just doing it for fun or kicks, but for profit. So, don’t burn a hole in your pocket to fill cyberattackers’. Implement latest technologies to safeguard your IT infrastructure & consider such spending as an investment. Other point to be noted is that companies need to invest & implement such protection now and not wait for something to happen, as that would be too late & too costly.   About SNS: Secure Network Solutions India ( SNS ) provides a quantifiable, risk-based approach to build cyber security based on globally recognized frameworks and standards. We have been protecting business for the last 20 years! Write to us at [email protected]