5-minute Cybersecurity Survey for IoT Device Manufacturers

Cybersecurity is becoming a critical issue with everything going online and organizations competing and striving to maintain their online presence. The IoT device manufacturers are concocting new technologies that can minimize the risks of cybercrimes and companies getting robbed of their data and information in exchange for heavy ransom.

However, it is easier said than done. The counter-technologies and hacking techniques of the perpetrators are also advancing simultaneously, and the risks are increasing with each passing day.

Below are the surveys conducted by different esteemed organizations and the related stats regarding cybersecurity for the fastest growing IoT devices companies so that they can help individuals and businesses in securing their data.

A survey by the Cybersecurity Ventures

According to the Chair and CEO of CISCO, Chuck Robbins, who cited research conducted by the Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrimes were to cause damages of around USD 6 trillion globally in 2021, which would be the 3rd largest economy in the world, after the USA and China.

Cybersecurity Ventures revealed new information and statistics for understanding the threats of cybersecurity so that IoT device manufacturers can devise advanced technologies to minimize these attacks.

Ransomware

• Cybersecurity Ventures had presented a report that predicted ransomware damages would reach USD 5 billion in 2017, a 15X increase from $325 million in 2015. The damages were predicted to touch $8 billion in 2018 and $11.5 billion in the year 2019. The 2021 stats expected the damages to touch $20 billion, nearly 57 times more than what it was in 2015.
• Ransomware is predicted to cause damages of more than $265 billion to its victims annually by the year 2031. Perpetrators are continually advancing their malware payloads and other related extortion activities. The figure is based on a 30% growth in damage costs per year for the next 10 years.
• According to estimates by Cybersecurity Ventures, an organization was attacked by ransomware every 11 seconds last year. It is expected to reach a business or consumer being attacked every 2 seconds by 2031.
• Ransomware attacks on the healthcare industry were predicted to quadruple between the years 2017 and 2021.
• An aviation organization is attacked by ransomware every week somewhere around the globe.

All these stats make it clear the dire need of developing highly secure IoT devices so that individuals and organizations can protect themselves from ransom attacks.

Cybersecurity Expenses

• The need to secure the businesses that are rapidly moving towards digitization, consumers, and IoT devices will drive the global expenses on cybersecurity products and services to around $1.75 trillion cumulatively between the years 2021 and 2025, a leap from $1 trillion cumulatively in between 2017 and 2021.
• According to CISCO, 50% of large organizations (who have over 10,000 employees) were spending $1 million or more every year on security in 2021, with 43% spending something between $250,000 and $999,999 and only 7% spend under $250,000.
• According to Cybersecurity Ventures, expenses on security awareness training for the company staff are predicted to touch around $10 billion by 2027 globally.

The fastest-growing IoT device manufacturing companies are helping organizations with different devices and products having cutting-edge technologies to secure their internal networks and data.

Stats by the World Economic Forum

Digitalization has experienced a huge leap in the past 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the increasing use of digital tools, the amount of data is also increasing rapidly. According to the estimates by the World Bank, total annual internet traffic will rise from the 2020 levels by about 50% in 2022, touching 4.8 zettabytes.

These increased use of digitalization have made individuals and businesses more vulnerable to cyberattacks causing frequent and expensive damages. So, the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022 of the World Economic Forum reveals findings from 120 cyber leaders around the globe on how to switch from cybersecurity to cyber resilience.

Cyber Resilience of Small and Medium Companies

The research by the World Economic Forum advises that the cyber resilience of SMBs (small and medium businesses) can pose critical threats to supply chains, systems, and partner networks. Around 88% of respondents are concerned about the cyber resilience of SMBs in their firms, with 48% of respondents who believe that machine learning and automation will bring immense transformation in cybersecurity in the next 2 years.

The fastest-growing IoT devices companies have a huge role to play in this digital transformation with their rapid technology developments.

Some Other Cybersecurity Stats

• NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence Report reveals that according to the IoT-based attacks stats for 2019, on average, IoT devices get attacked within 5 minutes after connecting to the internet.
• According to Palo Alto Networks, 83% of medical imaging tools use unsupported operating systems. And because of discontinued support for Windows 7, devices are more exposed to malware and cyberattacks, which is 56% more than in 2018.
• Symantec reveals most of the cyberattacks (around 75%) on IoT devices are directed towards network routers. Cybercriminals prefer to target these routers, with around 5,200 attacks per router every month. With more people using smart devices, it was expected that cyberattacks would also increase, and it’s proving to be true.

Conclusion

To be very clear and honest, cybercrimes are not going to reduce in numbers or risk intensity. What is needed to be done is that the IoT device manufacturers and cybersecurity professionals have to build stronger applications and networks, which would be difficult for the attackers to break and steal sensitive information.