Seventy two percent of organizations reported a security incident in the last 12 months in CrowdStrike’s 2024 Global Threat Report, and that urgency shows up repeatedly in the data on breaches, ransomware, and response failures. From phishing dominating initial access to KEV catalog growth that signals exploitable vulnerabilities keep piling up, these figures also reveal where costs spike and what controls actually miss the mark.
Key Takeaways
- 17% of organizations paid a ransom multiple times
- 86% of malware is delivered through phishing and social engineering in Microsoft’s threat intelligence summary
- The CISA KEV catalog contained 93 vulnerabilities as of a specific snapshot in 2025, indicating continuing expansion (as shown in the catalog entry count on CISA)
- IBM reported that 1,000 records exposed increased breach costs significantly; it cites the cost per record approach in 2023 report
- FBI and CISA warned that business email compromise median loss per incident was $15,000 in 2023 (FBI IC3 BEC section)
- In Verizon DBIR 2024, the estimated cost of breaches is described as varying by incident type; the report’s incident-type distributions include quantification of cost drivers
- 55% of organizations reported using EDR (endpoint detection and response) in 2024 (survey-based measure in SonicWall’s 2024 report coverage).
- Cybersecurity spending in North America reached $30.2 billion in 2024 (projected by IDC).
- IDC forecasts global cybersecurity spending to grow at a 13.8% CAGR from 2024 to 2027.
- 48% of organizations said their backup systems are not fully protected against ransomware, according to Druva’s 2024 data resilience research.
- 75% of organizations reported using multifactor authentication (MFA) in Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report (2024)
- In 2023, phishing accounted for 76% of reported security incidents in APWG’s Quarterly Phishing Activity Trends report
- 52% of organizations report they use security automation to improve response times, according to the SANS 2024 survey on security automation
- 70% of organizations planned to increase investment in security operations (SecOps) in 2024, based on a CrowdStrike survey of IT and security leaders
- 57% of organizations reported deploying threat intelligence feeds in 2024, per a ThreatConnect/industry survey
Phishing and credential theft drive most breaches, while patching and ransomware readiness lag despite rising security spending.
Threat Landscape
117% of organizations paid a ransom multiple times[1]
Verified
286% of malware is delivered through phishing and social engineering in Microsoft’s threat intelligence summary[2]
Verified
3The CISA KEV catalog contained 93 vulnerabilities as of a specific snapshot in 2025, indicating continuing expansion (as shown in the catalog entry count on CISA)[3]
Verified
4ENISA’s Threat Landscape 2023 states that phishing remains one of the main initial access vectors[4]
Verified
5Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) reported that phishing and credential theft are common tactics in large-scale campaigns (TAG reporting includes quantified incident counts)[5]
Single source
Threat Landscape Interpretation
In the Threat Landscape, social-engineering driven attacks dominate, with 86% of malware delivered via phishing and social engineering and 17% of organizations paying ransoms multiple times, underscoring that initial access and repeat compromise remain key risks even as vulnerability exposure grows through the 93 entries in CISA’s KEV catalog as of 2025.
Cost Analysis
1IBM reported that 1,000 records exposed increased breach costs significantly; it cites the cost per record approach in 2023 report[6]
Single source
2FBI and CISA warned that business email compromise median loss per incident was $15,000 in 2023 (FBI IC3 BEC section)[7]
Verified
3In Verizon DBIR 2024, the estimated cost of breaches is described as varying by incident type; the report’s incident-type distributions include quantification of cost drivers[8]
Verified
4In 2023, the median organizational cost of a cyber incident for UK businesses was £9,000 (DCMS cyber breaches survey)[9]
Directional
5The World Economic Forum estimated that cybercrime costs could reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 (WEO/WEF report figure)[10]
Directional
6Chainalysis reported that actors received $449 million in Bitcoin in 2023 ransomware payments (2024 ransomware report)[11]
Verified
7In 2023, 18% of organizations were denied cyber insurance or had coverage limited (S&P Global Ratings cyber insurance article)[12]
Verified
8In Sophos’ 2024 report, 19% of organizations couldn’t restore data after ransomware[13]
Single source
944% of breaches involved a cloud service or environment used incorrectly or misconfigured, based on IBM Security’s cloud breach analysis (Cost of a Data Breach report-related findings).[14]
Verified
10Cybersecurity insurance denied or limited coverage affected 20% of orgs in a 2023 S&P Global Ratings analysis (as reported in their cyber insurance article).[15]
Directional
11In CrowdStrike’s 2024 Global Threat Report, 72% of organizations reported they had a security incident in the last 12 months.[16]
Verified
12In 2023, 93% of exploited vulnerabilities in the U.S. were in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog when attackers used them, per CISA KEV reporting[17]
Verified
1356% of organizations reported that their primary cybersecurity budget goes to incident response and monitoring capabilities, per the (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024[18]
Verified
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Across multiple sources, the data shows that cyber costs are strongly tied to how breaches happen and response readiness, with reported median losses like $15,000 for business email compromise and £9,000 for UK incidents, while 44% of breaches involve misconfigured or incorrectly used cloud environments and 56% of organizations put their primary budget into incident response and monitoring.
Market & Adoption
155% of organizations reported using EDR (endpoint detection and response) in 2024 (survey-based measure in SonicWall’s 2024 report coverage).[19]
Verified
2Cybersecurity spending in North America reached $30.2 billion in 2024 (projected by IDC).[20]
Verified
3IDC forecasts global cybersecurity spending to grow at a 13.8% CAGR from 2024 to 2027.[21]
Verified
452% of organizations are prioritizing identity and access management (IAM) investments in 2024, per SailPoint’s 2024 identity security survey findings.[22]
Verified
551% of IT leaders reported adopting Zero Trust in some form, according to the 2024 Gartner survey results published in Gartner’s Zero Trust research synopsis.[23]
Verified
Market & Adoption Interpretation
In Market and Adoption, adoption is clearly accelerating as 55% of organizations use EDR in 2024 and spending is projected to keep rising with North America at $30.2 billion in 2024 and global cybersecurity forecast to grow at a 13.8% CAGR through 2027, alongside growing focus on IAM (52%) and Zero Trust (51%).
Security Practices
148% of organizations said their backup systems are not fully protected against ransomware, according to Druva’s 2024 data resilience research.[24]
Verified
Security Practices Interpretation
Security practices are leaving gaps exposed because 48% of organizations say their backup systems are not fully protected against ransomware, meaning resilience depends on strengthening core safeguards.
Industry Trends
175% of organizations reported using multifactor authentication (MFA) in Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report (2024)[25]
Verified
2In 2023, phishing accounted for 76% of reported security incidents in APWG’s Quarterly Phishing Activity Trends report[26]
Directional
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends show that identity protections are becoming mainstream, with 75% of organizations using multifactor authentication in Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report for 2024, even as phishing remains the dominant threat at 76% of reported incidents in APWG’s 2023 Quarterly Phishing Activity Trends.
User Adoption
152% of organizations report they use security automation to improve response times, according to the SANS 2024 survey on security automation[27]
Single source
270% of organizations planned to increase investment in security operations (SecOps) in 2024, based on a CrowdStrike survey of IT and security leaders[28]
Verified
357% of organizations reported deploying threat intelligence feeds in 2024, per a ThreatConnect/industry survey[29]
Verified
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption in security is clearly accelerating as 70% of organizations planned to boost SecOps investment in 2024 while 52% already use security automation to improve response times and 57% deploy threat intelligence feeds.
Performance Metrics
162% of breaches used stolen credentials as an initial attack vector, according to Mandiant’s 2023 M-Trends report[30]
Directional
2The average dwell time was 56 days in 2023, based on Google Mandiant’s analysis published in the 2024 M-Trends report[31]
Verified
Performance Metrics Interpretation
From a performance metrics perspective, breaches are getting in quickly through stolen credentials, with 62% citing them as the initial attack vector, while attackers still remain undetected for an average of 56 days, indicating a sustained dwell-time challenge.
How We Rate Confidence
Models
Every statistic is queried across four AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). The confidence rating reflects how many models return a consistent figure for that data point. Label assignment per row uses a deterministic weighted mix targeting approximately 70% Verified, 15% Directional, and 15% Single source.
Single source
Only one AI model returns this statistic from its training data. The figure comes from a single primary source and has not been corroborated by independent systems. Use with caution; cross-reference before citing.
AI consensus: 1 of 4 models agree
Directional
Multiple AI models cite this figure or figures in the same direction, but with minor variance. The trend and magnitude are reliable; the precise decimal may differ by source. Suitable for directional analysis.
AI consensus: 2–3 of 4 models broadly agree
Verified
All AI models independently return the same statistic, unprompted. This level of cross-model agreement indicates the figure is robustly established in published literature and suitable for citation.
AI consensus: 4 of 4 models fully agree
Models
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Marcus Engström. (2026, February 13). Computer Security Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/computer-security-statistics
MLA
Marcus Engström. "Computer Security Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/computer-security-statistics.
Chicago
Marcus Engström. 2026. "Computer Security Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/computer-security-statistics.
References
- 1assets.sophos.com/X14/secure-notification/2023-state-of-ransomware-ebook.pdf
- 13assets.sophos.com/X14/secure-notification/sophos-state-of-ransomware-2024.pdf
- 2microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-intelligence-report
- 25microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/microsoft-digital-defense-report
- 3cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
- 17cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities
- 4enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-2023
- 5blog.google/threat-analysis-group/
- 6ibm.com/reports/data-breach
- 14ibm.com/security/data-breach
- 7ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf
- 8verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
- 9gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2024
- 10weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2024/
- 11blog.chainalysis.com/reports/ransomware-2024/
- 12spglobal.com/ratings/en/research/articles/230601-cyber-insurance-market-remains-volatile-12919401
- 15spglobal.com/ratings/en/research/articles/101223-cyber-insurance-a-whole-new-business-risk-12481702
- 16crowdstrike.com/resources/reports/global-threat-report/
- 28crowdstrike.com/resources/reports/
- 18isc2.org/Research/Workforce-Study
- 19sonicwall.com/products/threat-reports/2024/sonicwall-cybersecurity-threat-report-2024
- 20idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US51716824
- 21idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS52042724
- 22sailpoint.com/resources/identity-security-report/
- 23gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-09-25-gartner-says-zero-trust-architectures-are-moving-to-implementation
- 24druva.com/resources/state-of-data-resilience-report/
- 26apwg.org/trendsreports/
- 27sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/automation
- 29threatconnect.com/resources/
- 30cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/mandiant-m-trends-2023-report
- 31cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/mandiant-m-trends-2024-report