Cybercrime keeps getting more targeted, and the costs are climbing right alongside it. A 2023 analysis found 68% of breaches are financially motivated, while BEC alone drove $2.7 billion in losses in 2023. When you line that up with record attack volume and mounting operational burden like alert fatigue, the biggest surprise is not how attacks happen, but how hard it is to stop them fast.
Key Takeaways
- 68% of breaches are financially motivated, based on Verizon’s DBIR dataset analysis
- Check Point reported that organizations faced a record 5,167 attacks per week in 2023 on average (from its Global Threat Index materials)
- CISA received 6,500+ vulnerabilities through Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure reports in 2023 (CISA “Vulnerability Disclosure” metrics)
- $2.7 billion was lost to Business Email Compromise (BEC) in 2023 reported by IC3
- IBM reports that breaches involving malicious or criminal attacks are costlier than other causes
- 53% of organizations reported using at least one form of MFA for customer-facing login, per Microsoft Digital Defense Report metrics
- The global cybersecurity market is projected to reach $223.1 billion in 2024 and $360.0 billion by 2028 (Cybersecurity Ventures forecast)
- The global managed security services market is projected to reach $34.1 billion in 2024 (MarketsandMarkets)
- The global cloud security market is projected to reach $14.1 billion in 2023 and $67.8 billion by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets)
- Organizations experiencing breaches are required under GDPR to notify regulators within 72 hours when feasible, per the regulation
- The EU NIS2 Directive requires essential entities to take appropriate and proportionate security measures and to report incidents
- CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 22-01 (BOD 22-01) requires federal agencies to limit risk from public-facing external systems by enforcing vulnerability protections
- 67% of organizations say they have experienced a data breach caused by phishing or social engineering (2024 survey), linking initial access to human-targeted attacks
- The average ransomware incident cost organizations $5.0 million in 2023 (2024 report), capturing direct incident expenses plus recovery
- 41% of organizations reported that breach response required more than 100 hours of internal labor (2024 survey), quantifying human effort
With breaches often financially driven, rising attack volumes, and steep ransomware costs, stronger security spending and faster response are essential.
Related reading
01 · Category
Threat Landscape3 stats
01
68% of breaches are financially motivated, based on Verizon’s DBIR dataset analysis
02
Check Point reported that organizations faced a record 5,167 attacks per week in 2023 on average (from its Global Threat Index materials)
03
CISA received 6,500+ vulnerabilities through Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure reports in 2023 (CISA “Vulnerability Disclosure” metrics)
Interpretation
Threat Landscape Interpretation
In the Threat Landscape, financially motivated breaches dominate at 68 percent while attack pressure is rising, with Check Point averaging 5,167 attacks per week in 2023 and CISA receiving 6,500 plus vulnerability reports that year.
02 · Category
Cost Analysis3 stats
01
$2.7 billion was lost to Business Email Compromise (BEC) in 2023 reported by IC3
02
IBM reports that breaches involving malicious or criminal attacks are costlier than other causes
03
53% of organizations reported using at least one form of MFA for customer-facing login, per Microsoft Digital Defense Report metrics
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Cost analysis shows that Business Email Compromise alone cost 2.7 billion dollars in 2023 and that IBM finds malicious attacks generally drive higher breach costs, which suggests stronger defenses such as the 53 percent of organizations using some form of customer-facing MFA can be a meaningful lever to reduce expensive cyber incidents.
03 · Category
Market Size9 stats
01
The global cybersecurity market is projected to reach $223.1 billion in 2024 and $360.0 billion by 2028 (Cybersecurity Ventures forecast)
02
The global managed security services market is projected to reach $34.1 billion in 2024 (MarketsandMarkets)
03
The global cloud security market is projected to reach $14.1 billion in 2023 and $67.8 billion by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets)
04
The global security information and event management (SIEM) market is expected to reach $60.7 billion by 2028 (MarketsandMarkets)
05
The global endpoint security market size is forecast to be $27.9 billion in 2024 and $46.6 billion by 2029 (MarketsandMarkets)
06
The global identity and access management market is projected to reach $29.5 billion in 2023 and $56.6 billion by 2030 (IMARC)
07
Global cybersecurity spending is forecast to reach $197.9 billion in 2024 (Gartner estimate)
08
U.S. cybersecurity spending is forecast to reach $244.2 billion in 2024 (Gartner)
09
The U.S. SOAR platform market is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2023 to $9.8 billion by 2030 (MarketsandMarkets)
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
Market size signals rapid expansion across cybersecurity segments, with the global cybersecurity market projected to grow from $223.1 billion in 2024 to $360.0 billion by 2028, alongside strong growth in areas like SIEM reaching $60.7 billion by 2028 and endpoint security rising to $46.6 billion by 2029.
04 · Category
Industry Trends7 stats
01
Organizations experiencing breaches are required under GDPR to notify regulators within 72 hours when feasible, per the regulation
02
The EU NIS2 Directive requires essential entities to take appropriate and proportionate security measures and to report incidents
03
CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 22-01 (BOD 22-01) requires federal agencies to limit risk from public-facing external systems by enforcing vulnerability protections
04
CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 23-01 (BOD 23-01) required federal agencies to improve logging and detection by May 2024
05
NIST SP 800-61 Revision 2 requires that incident response include preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication and recovery, and post-incident activity
06
NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 includes 5 Functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover
07
The number of publicly disclosed data breaches reached 3,205 in 2023 in the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index (2024 release), indicating reporting volume
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
In Industry Trends, the steady rise in accountability and capabilities is clear as publicly disclosed breaches hit 3,205 in 2023, while frameworks and directives worldwide increasingly require faster incident reporting and stronger prevention, detection, and response measures.
05 · Category
Threat Incidents1 stats
01
67% of organizations say they have experienced a data breach caused by phishing or social engineering (2024 survey), linking initial access to human-targeted attacks
Interpretation
Threat Incidents Interpretation
In the Threat Incidents category, 67% of organizations report that a phishing or social engineering breach was the driver of their initial data breach in 2024, showing how often these human targeted attacks lead to real compromise.
06 · Category
Breach Economics1 stats
01
The average ransomware incident cost organizations $5.0 million in 2023 (2024 report), capturing direct incident expenses plus recovery
Interpretation
Breach Economics Interpretation
In Breach Economics, the average ransomware incident cost rose to $5.0 million in 2023, underscoring how breach losses are largely driven by direct incident expenses plus recovery.
More related reading
07 · Category
Incident Response1 stats
01
41% of organizations reported that breach response required more than 100 hours of internal labor (2024 survey), quantifying human effort
Interpretation
Incident Response Interpretation
For incident response, 41% of organizations say breach handling demands more than 100 hours of internal labor, underscoring how resource intensive the response phase can be.
08 · Category
Controls And Adoption1 stats
01
58% of organizations stated they had a formal cybersecurity risk assessment process in place (2024 survey), showing risk management adoption
Interpretation
Controls And Adoption Interpretation
In the 2024 survey, 58% of organizations reported having a formal cybersecurity risk assessment process in place, indicating solid but still developing adoption of controls and structured risk management practices.
09 · Category
Ransomware Impact1 stats
01
3.4% of detected ransomware incidents resulted in data loss without extortion, based on SentinelOne’s incident observations
Interpretation
Ransomware Impact Interpretation
Within the Ransomware Impact category, 3.4% of detected ransomware incidents ended with data loss even without extortion, showing that ransomware harm can occur without ransom demands.
10 · Category
Attack Frequency & Vectors1 stats
01
80% of organizations reported that they were targeted by at least one botnet attack during the last 12 months
Interpretation
Attack Frequency & Vectors Interpretation
From an Attack Frequency & Vectors perspective, 80% of organizations reported being targeted by at least one botnet attack in the past 12 months, showing botnets are a consistently recurring threat vector.
11 · Category
Incident Readiness2 stats
01
70% of organizations said they use threat intelligence feeds to support incident response decisions
02
45% of security professionals said alert fatigue is a major issue in their SOC environment, indicating operational readiness constraints
Interpretation
Incident Readiness Interpretation
Incident readiness appears strongest where 70% of organizations leverage threat intelligence feeds to guide response decisions, but it is being undermined by SOC operational strain since 45% report alert fatigue as a major issue.
12 · Category
Industry Compliance1 stats
01
In 2023, HHS OCR posted 1,478,653 individuals affected by breaches involving improper access/disclosure categories (HIPAA breach notifications)
Interpretation
Industry Compliance Interpretation
In 2023, HHS OCR reported 1,478,653 individuals affected by HIPAA breach notifications tied to improper access or disclosure, underscoring how critical industry compliance remains for controlling unauthorized data exposure.
Reference
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
Helena Kowalczyk. (2026, February 13). Cyberattack Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cyberattack-statistics
MLA
Helena Kowalczyk. "Cyberattack Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/cyberattack-statistics.
Chicago
Helena Kowalczyk. 2026. "Cyberattack Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cyberattack-statistics.
Sources & references
31 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+9 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)