Annual cybercrime costs set to hit $6T by 2021

CybersecurityVentures predicts that the global annual cybercrime costs will grow to $6 trillion by 2021 from $3 trillion in 2015.

With the annual global cybercrime costs set to escalate to an estimated $6 trillion by 2021, companies have no option but to prepare to respond to the threat, cyber security experts said.
Muhammad Shahmeer, founder of Veiliux and an international cyber security expert, said cyber-attacks pose a massive threat not only to businesses but to safety and existence of people.
Addressing Chief Information Officers (CIOs) at the recent CIO Majlis, an initiative by Smartworld, an Etisalat and Dubai South joint venture company, he said cyber-attacks have become a serious concern for organisations worldwide.
"Cybersecurity is the need of the era. Everything nowadays is online, which also means we are highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These could disrupt not only businesses but also affect our safety and existence," said Shahmeer.
The recent Wannacry malware, which affected 150 countries and infected over 200,000 computers, is estimated to have caused $4 billion losses, according to cyber risk modelling firm Cyence.
CybersecurityVentures predicts that the global annual cybercrime costs will grow to $6 trillion by 2021 from $3 trillion in 2015. These include damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm.
Saeed Al Dhaheri, Chairman, Smartworld, said companies need to reach the maturity level where the entire organisations right from the leader to an employee are security aware. "CIOs should convince their leadership to address security as a priority in the organisation. The way organisations invest in other areas, they need to invest toward ensuring security within their organizations too, lest it come the weakest link that can cause serious damage. The UAE is making efforts at various levels need to be unified."
Gregg Petersen, regional director, MEA and SAARC, Veeam Software, said the main concern of companies which are facing data loss is how quickly they can recover and how much data can they afford to lose.
"Companies need to be extremely careful about the vendors they choose to keep their business up and running and how much risk they can mitigate," said Petersen.
Among the key challenges that smart cities of the future will face are insecure products and insufficient testing, huge and complex attack surface, shifting mindsets and budgets and lack of oversight and organization. These challenges must be addressed at the earliest.
Abdulqader Obaid Ali, CEO, Smartworld, said the world would have over 50 billion inter connected devices by 2020. And the UAE is a frontrunner in terms of adopting the latest technologies. This transformation also brings with it the responsibility and challenge of ensuring safety from cyber-attacks.
"Most companies are spending money toward preventing the attacks, but you really cannot prevent, it is a critical question of generating awareness and having a response plan," said Ahmed Al Mulla, Chairman of CIO Majlis.
According to Kaspersky, each security incident could cause an estimated loss of $861000.
"Companies must train every employee and adopt a mindset of security in an organisation, conduct cyber workshops. Security, if not adopted as a culture, could cost an organization everything," added Shahmeer.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com