In just one minute on the internet, $2.9 million is lost to cybercrime, according to the annual Evil Internet Minute report from RiskIQ.
After analyzing proprietary research and data derived from the volume of malicious activity on the internet, the report found that cyber-criminals cost the global economy $2.9 million every minute last year, for a total of $1.5 trillion.
Major companies are paying $25 per internet minute because of security breaches, while hacks on cryptocurrency exchanges cost $1,930. Criminals are leveraging multiple tactics, from malvertising to phishing and supply chain attacks. The loss from phishing attacks alone is $17,700 per minute. Global ransomware events in 2019 are projected to total $22,184 by the minute.
"As the scale of the internet continues to proliferate, so does the threat landscape," said Lou Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ, in today’s press release. "By compiling the vast numbers associated with cybercrime in the past year, we made the research more accessible by framing it in the context of an 'internet minute.' We are entering our third year defining the sheer scale of attacks that take place across the internet using the latest third-party research and our own global threat intelligence so that businesses can better understand what they're up against on the open web."
Cyber-criminals have also increased their targets on e-commerce with Magecart hacks, which grew by 20% over the last year. The study found 0.21 Magecart attacks were detected every minute. The data also revealed that in each internet minute 8,100 identifier records are compromised, seven malicious redirectors occur and 0.32 apps are blacklisted. In addition, the research found 2.4 phish traversing the internet per minute.
“Without greater awareness and an increased effort to implement necessary security controls, there will be more attacks using an ever-expanding range of technologies and strategies,” Manousos said. “With the recent explosion of web and browser-based threats, organizations should look to what can happen in a matter of minutes and evaluate their current security strategy. Businesses must realize that they are vulnerable beyond the firewall, all the way across the open internet."