Cybercrime

If cybercrime were a country, it would be:

• The thirteenth largest country in the world by Gross Domestic Product.
• Roughly the same size as Russia, South Korea or Canada.
• A total in 2019 of $1.5 trillion

That's larger than Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia put together, and not very far behind Texas - and it's growing year on year. According to the Official Annual Cybercrime Report by Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime will cost a massive $6 trillion by 2021 - that's bigger than Japan and would make cybercrime the third largest economy in the world. This area is dominated today by organized criminals running a sophisticated, multi-tiered industry that pays off big time as well as being used to launder money generated by other crimes.

Forget the Hollywood Hacker stereotype

This is now big business, and the average hacker no longer fits the stereotype of a kid in a hoodie operating from their parents' basement. The average hacker gets paid around $30,000 per job, and their managers can make up to $2 million a year. In 2018, these people successfully targeted almost 700 million people in only 20 countries.