The world’s fastest-growing crime, cybercrime, is one of the significant issues faced by countries and their governments in the present times. Having started with a simple breach in 1989, cybercrimes have now grown into a massive threat and are extremely challenging to get rid of.
During the first-ever hacking incident, the company paid around $189 for ransomware removal. However, the case is not the same anymore. A record of the previous year’s annual money spent across the globe for cybersecurity management as well as ransomware recovery after the attacks shows enormous figures. In 2016, cybercriminal activities cost the world a record loss of $3.1 billion, and the amount is only going up further.
The Initiation and Spread of Cybercrimes
The first-ever ransomware attack was made in 1989 and was an elementary form of cybercrime. The cyberattacks in the past were usually very easily combated, and the data was also quickly recovered. However, this is not the case anymore. Now hackers ask for huge amounts of money to return the data to the companies. Last year, a South Korean business named ‘Nayana’ was hacked, and some malware breach was caused in its data. The owners had to pay a high amount of around a million dollars to recover all its data from the cyber attack.
As time passes, new and more lethal forms of malware and cyber attacks are becoming threatening for businesses and governments. Even an individual sitting at home is at a considerable risk of being attacked by the cybercriminals easily.
Previously, there were only two to three known cyber-attacks. The most common cyber attacks two decades ago were malicious codes, advanced worms, or Trojans. Now we have about a hundred different forms of cyber attacks, including phishing, botnets, bitcoin thefts, spammed sites, and DNS attacks.
While it was previously only aimed at someone’s business-related information, now cybercrimes are meant for breaking into someone’s banking system, finances, social media sites, and other such private domains. With the introduction of more and more technological advancements, the number of cybercriminals, as well as the ways through which they cause disturbance on the web, is drastically increasing.
The Future of Cybercrimes
Even with the new laws being made and cybercriminal punishments becoming harsher than before, the future seems hopeless in this regard. The cybercriminal activities are only expected to increase more in the future both in terms of their types as well as the monetary loss associated with them.
It is expected that the total loss of money due to such crimes will reach up to $6 trillion by the end of 2021. The criminals in this field are expected to grow more in number since this illegal industry will generate a lot of money in the future. It is predicted that by the end of 2019, the damages inflicted due to ransomware will be more than $5 billion.
