As crimes in cyberspace continue to surge, the likelihood of becoming a cybercrime victim also increases yearly.
That is why it is essential to uncover and act on the latest cybercrime data accordingly. Below, we look at cybercrime statistics by country and year to help you avoid getting caught in the landslide.
7 Notable Cybercrime Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- The cost of cybercrime globally was around $8.4 trillion in 2022.
- Global software vulnerability detections increased by over 25% in 2022.
- In 2022, 1 in 3 of Ireland’s SMEs averaged €22,773 payouts to cyber criminals.
- In H1 2022, 10,000+ ransomware signatures were found in Latin America.
- In 2022, Australian businesses saw a 14% increase in average cost per cybercrime.
- Queensland recorded the most BEC reports (389) in Australia in 2022.
- Only 19% of Australian ransomware-related cybercrime victims in 2022 sought help from the police or ACSC.
Infographic
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General Global Cyber Crime Statistics for 2021-2023
1. The country most likely to be targeted with malicious emails in 2021 was Spain (9.32%).
Russia came in second with 6.33%, while Italy (5.78%) completed the top three.
2. The cost of cybercrime globally was around $8.4 trillion in 2022.
In 2023, the cost is projected to exceed $11 trillion and hit $20 trillion by 2026, a 150 percent jump from 2022.
3. The United States had the highest number of cybercrime victims globally in 2021.
It had 466,501 victims, followed by the United Kingdom (303,949) and Canada (5,788). Other notably affected countries included India (3,131), Australia (2,204), France (1,972), and South Africa (1,790).
4. As of December 2022, 68% of Indian internet users had experienced a cybercrime.
The US was the second most affected country (49%), while Australia (40%) came in third.
The most prevalent types of cybercrimes included unauthorized access to email and social media accounts or malicious software on digital devices.
5. Greece was the most prepared country against cybercrimes as of March 2023.
It tops the National Cyber Security Index (NCSI) with a score of 96.10.
Other well-prepared countries against cybercrimes included Belgium (94.81), Lithuania (93.51), Estonia (93.51), and the Czech Republic (92.21).
6. Global software vulnerability detections increased by over 25% in 2022.
This represented 24,000+ Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), with notable examples including flaws in Log4j products and Microsoft Azure.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyber-crime-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img decoding="async" src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/global-software-vulnerability-detentions.png" alt="Global Software Vulnerability Detections" width="768" border="0" height="861.44" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/global-software-vulnerability-detentions-768x861.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/global-software-vulnerability-detentions-268x300.png 268w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/global-software-vulnerability-detentions-913x1024.png 913w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/global-software-vulnerability-detentions.png 1200w" sizes="auto"></a>
7. Investment fraud was the most expensive cybercrime for victims in 2022.
An average of $70,811 was lost per victim.
8. Cybercriminals targeted developing countries less often in 2021.
Africa had the lowest email breach rate at 4 in 100 internet users, followed by Asia with 12 breaches/100 internet users.
In North America, however, 1 in every 2 internet users was affected by a breach.
Oceanian Internet users were the second most affected (2 out of every 5 users).
9. In 2021, the U.K. had 4,783 cybercrime victims per 1 million internet users.
This represented a 40% surge from 2020. Conversely, the United States had 1,494 cases, a 13% decrease.
Canada had 174 cases, meaning a 7% year-on-year dip, while the Netherlands had the bigmost significantar-over-year rise in cybercrime, at 50%.
10. Between October and December 2021, DHL was the most impersonated brand by cybercriminals executing phishing attempts.
DHL was present in 23% of brand phishing attacks internationally in Q4 2021, surpassing the title’s usual contender Microsoft. Other brands impersonated in many phishing attacks included Microsoft (20%), Whatsapp (11%), Google (10%), and LinkedIn (8%).
11. Phishing attacks affected 323,972 global internet users in 2021.
Conversely, ransomware and malware attacks affected 4,500 victims.
12. Denial of service attacks cost victims $197 (average) in 2021.
Likewise, there were about 1,100 victims who reported such incidents globally.
13. Between 2001 and 2021, over 6.5 million victims lost more than $26 billion to cybercrime.
The frequency of attacks grew from 6 to 97 victims per hour during that period.
On the other hand, financial losses increased 400 times from around $2,000 to $788,000 every hour.
Also, victims reported losses crossing over $13.6 million.
15. As of 2021, cybercriminals could penetrate 93% of networks.
Hackers averaged about 48 hours to accomplish this, and credential breach is the main route used by cybercriminals breaching 71% of firms.
16. Cybercrime cost U.S. businesses over $6.9 billion in 2021.
This was a 64% increase from the previous year when around $4.2 billion was lost.
17. In 2021, Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks were the most profitable for cybercriminals.
Victim losses to BEC scams reached $2.4 billion in the year, even though they were just 2.4% of the reported cases to the FBI.
Cybercrime Statistics in North America
18. FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 23,903 complaints about tech support fraud cybercrime in 2021.
The complaints affected people in 70 countries with over $347 million in losses, a 137% surge from the previous year. Around 60% of those affected were over 60 years old, and their losses amounted to about $238 million.
19. 24,299 people were victims of confidence fraud/romance cybercrimes in the U.S. in 2021.
Their losses totaled $956 million.
32% of those affected were above 60 years, 16% between 50 and 59, and 2% below 20 years. Most victims also reported being pressured into investment opportunities, especially using cryptocurrency, which resulted in over $429 million in losses.
20. In 2021, 14 of 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the US experienced at least one ransomware attack.
Healthcare and Public Health had the highest number of cases (148), followed by financial services (89), information technology (74), critical manufacturing (65), and government facilities (60) in the top 5 list.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyber-crime-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img decoding="async" src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ransomware-attacks.png" alt="Ransomware Attacks in US Critical Infrastructure Sectors" width="768" border="0" height="644.47552447552" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ransomware-attacks-768x644.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ransomware-attacks-300x252.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ransomware-attacks-1024x859.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ransomware-attacks.png 1430w" sizes="auto"></a>
21. CONTI, LockBit, and REvil/Sodinokibi were the top 3 ransomware variants attacking the US critical infrastructure sector in 2021.
CONTI accounted for 87% of the incidents, LockBit took a 58% share of the attack pie, and then REvil/Sodinokibi (51%) closed out the top three.
Of the affected victims, an estimated $1.6 billion was lost to these scams.
23. In 2021, California had the highest number of cybercrime victims in the U.S.
It had 67,095 victims who reported $1.2 billion in losses to these scams.
Texas followed (41,148 victims), and New York came in third (29,065).
In the latter two regions, losses ranged between $525 and $606 million.
Cybercrime Statistics in Europe
24. In 2021, ransomware accounted for 26% of all European cyber attacks.
It was followed by server access attacks (12%) and data theft (10%).
25. In 2022, 1 in 3 of Ireland's SMEs averaged €22,773 payouts to cyber criminals.
Also, 74% of those who paid the ransom had done so multiple times.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyber-crime-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img decoding="async" src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals.png" alt="Ireland SMEs Payouts to Cryber Criminals" width="768" border="0" height="451.80990495248" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals-768x452.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals-300x176.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals-1024x602.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals-1536x904.png 1536w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ireland-cyber-criminals.png 1999w" sizes="auto"></a>
26. Ransomware brought about €24 billion in losses to German businesses between 2020 and 2021.
In 2021, German enterprises paid an average of just over $204,000 in ransom costs – with the most significant average payments made in Q1 and Q4 2021.
27. 88% of German firms in 2021 were affected by cybercrime.
Also, nearly 89% of companies indicated that the number of cyber attacks surged in the past year (2020).
Cybercrime Statistics in Latin America
28. Financially motivated cybercrime in Latin America resulted in 73.9% of incidents in H2 2022.
It was followed by espionage at 13%. Also, 82% of financially motivated cybercrime in the region in FY2022 involved malicious scripts or ransomware.
29. In H1 2022, 10,000+ ransomware signatures were found in Latin America.
This was a significant increase from H1 2021, when there were only 5,400 similar detections.
Cybercrime Statistics in Asia
30. Malaysia had 20,000+ cybercrimes against internet users reported in 2021.
Around $123 million was lost in these cybercrimes. Also, between 2017 and 2021, Malaysians lost $490 million to cybercrimes.
31. 11,367 cybercrimes were reported between January and July 2022 in Malaysia.
This represented a 61% surge from 2016 to 2022.
32. 102,356 cybercrimes were reported in 2021 in India.
Of these incidents, 23% happened on Facebook.
Cybercrime Statistics in Australia
33. 76,000+ cybercrime incidents were reported in Australia between June 2021 and June 2022.
This was a 13% increase from incidents reported in the previous year.
It also means that the Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) received a cybercrime report every 7 minutes during that period.
34. In 2022, Australian businesses saw a 14% increase in average cost per cybercrime.
This came to around $62,000 for large businesses, $88,000 for medium businesses, and $39,000 for small businesses.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyber-crime-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img decoding="async" src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/average-cost-per-cybercrime.png" alt="Average Cost Per Cybercrime Against Australian Businesses" width="768" border="0" height="407.62781390695" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/average-cost-per-cybercrime-768x408.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/average-cost-per-cybercrime-300x159.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/average-cost-per-cybercrime-1024x544.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/average-cost-per-cybercrime.png 1999w" sizes="auto"></a>
35. 25,000+ calls were made to the Australian cyber security hotline between June 2021-June 2022 in Australia.
This represented around 69 calls per day, surging 15% from the previous financial year.
36. In 2022, online banking, fraud, and online shopping cybercrimes comprised 54% of all reported cybercrime in Australia.
Online fraud accounted for about 27%, online shopping cybercrimes happened in 14% of cases, and online banking cyber crimes took a 13% share of all cybercrime reports.
37. Between 2021–22, the ACSC responded to over 1,100 cybersecurity incidents.
That equates to 21 weekly cyber security incidents, a 36% decrease from the 2020-21 year.
38. In 2022, Australian businesses reported fewer successful business email compromise reports (BEC) cybercrimes, at 1,514 incidents.
Nonetheless, self-reported losses grew dramatically to more than $98 million.
39. Queensland recorded the most BEC reports (389) in Australia in 2022.
Western Australia had the highest average self-reported financial losses, at almost $112,000 per complaint.
This was a 75% increase compared to incidents responded to between 2019-20.
Also, the ACSC informed 148 organizations of ransomware activity in their systems in the same period.
It was the most affected sector, followed by Information Media and Telecommunications (10%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (10%), Government–State/Territory/Local (8%), and Health Care and Social Assistance (8%).
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyber-crime-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img decoding="async" src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/australian-sectors.png" alt="Australian Sectors Most Hit by Ransomware Cybercrimes" width="768" border="0" height="704.04889228419" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/australian-sectors-768x704.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/australian-sectors-300x275.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/australian-sectors-1024x938.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/australian-sectors.png 1309w" sizes="auto"></a>
Nonetheless, about 60% sought assistance from at least one formal entity. Furthermore, 23.2% of small to medium-sized enterprises paid the ransom.
Improve Your Privacy and Security Online
To avoid being a statistic in next year’s cybercrime guide, you should protect your security and privacy online.
For starters, patch critical vulnerabilities as soon as possible.
Likewise, automatically update all your devices and applications, including laptops and smart devices. You can also activate MFA, create alerts for scams, set up secure/hard-to-guess passwords, and employ reliable VPNs.
Furthermore, check out our 30+ phishing statistics and shocking identity theft statistics for more information on how to stay alert online.
Note:
If you are already a victim of a cybercrime and you are not sure of what to do next, you can start by using any of the links below, depending on your country:
- U.K.: ActionFraud, National Crime Agency
- Europe: Europol
- USA: FBI, IC3
- Australia: ACORN
- Canada: Public Safety Canada
- https://www.cyber.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/ACSC-Annual-Cyber-Threat-Report-2022.pdf
- https://venturebeat.com/security/report-phishing-attacks-jump-61-in-2022-with-255m-attacks-detected/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/194133/cybercrime-rate-in-selected-countries/
- https://ncsi.ega.ee/ncsi-index/
- https://surfshark.com/research/data-breach-impact/statistics
- https://blog-assets.f-secure.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/30120359/attack-landscape-update-h1-2021.pdf
- https://www.checkpoint.com/press/2022/dhl-replaces-microsoft-as-most-imitated-brand-in-phishing-attempts-in-q4-2021/
- https://www.comparitech.com/vpn/cybersecurity-cyber-crime-statistics-facts-trends/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20cyberattacks%20were%20found%20to%20be%20the%20root%20cause%20of%201%2C613%20breaches.%20In%20total%2C%20these%20affected%20almost%20188%20million%20individuals%2C%20up%2010%25%20on%20the%20170%20million%20individuals%20in%202020.%20(Identity%20Theft%20Resource%20Center)
- https://aag-it.com/the-latest-cyber-crime-statistics/#:~:text=76%25%20of%20respondents,is%20as%20follows%3A
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/1280009/cost-cybercrime-worldwide/
- https://surfshark.com/research/data-breach-impact/statistics
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckbrooks/2022/06/03/alarming-cyber-statistics-for-mid-year-2022-that-you-need-to-know/?sh=503fe7da7864
- https://www.mailguard.com.au/partner-blog/10-shocking-statistics-from-the-fbis-internet-crime-report
- https://ncsi.ega.ee/ncsi-index/
- https://www.finopotamus.com/post/ransomware-bec-and-criminal-use-of-crypto-high-on-fbi-s-internet-crime-report
- https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/technology–media-and-telecom/increasing-cybercrimes-in-the-us/
- https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2021_IC3Report.pdf
- https://therecord.media/fbi-6-9-billion-lost-through-internet-crimes-in-2021#:~:text=Victim%20breakdown,didn%27t%20report%20incidents.
- https://www.grantthornton.ie/globalassets/1.-member-firms/ireland/insights/publications/grant-thornton—cost-of-cybercrime-2022.pdf
- https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-events/main-reports/internet-organised-crime-threat-assessment
- https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/germany-s-cyber-threat-landscape-top-3-1548647/
- https://our.today/fortinet-reports-that-latin-america-was-target-of-360b-attempted-cyberattacks-in-2022/
- https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/brazil-is-the-second-country-that-suffers-the-most-cyber-attacks-in-latin-america
- https://aag-it.com/the-latest-cyber-crime-statistics/#:~:text=Cyber%20crime%20in%20Pakistan,cyber%20crimes%20used%20Facebook.
