August 22, 2016
Last year, private sector companies globally spent more than $75 billion on security software to safeguard their systems and data. That number is expected to grow about 7% annually, according to Gartner and other analyst firms. It doesn’t include all the massive amounts spent on fraud prevention by banks, a number that is widely underreported and expected to reach into the billions annually.
Companies are worse off by 100% [with cybersecurity] compared to 10 years ago because the world is more complicated now,” said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan. Hackers have huge financial incentives to resell employee personal information or corporate secrets. “Basically, all that sensitive data that was seized is out there to resell and use to target companies,” Litan said. “Thieves set up money laundering accounts to funnel the billions that are stolen every year, and it is now much easier to get money and intellectual property out of the system.”