Global cybercrime is on a rampage, ballooning to a staggering $9.2 trillion in 2024. Even more alarming, it’s projected to surge another 70% by the end of the decade, reaching a mind-boggling $15.6 trillion. This despite all the efforts companies and organizations worldwide throw at prevention.
This shocking figure is even more worrying given that companies across the sectors worldwide hire only half of the cybersecurity staff they need to keep their organizations secure.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, the global cybersecurity workforce hit 5.4 million in 2024, yet companies lack another 4.7 million professionals to keep their businesses secure.
Cyber attacks, including ransomware, data breaches, cyber espionage, and phishing, continue inflicting trillions of dollars worth of damage to companies worldwide. This cost includes stolen money, damage and destruction of data, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property and personal or financial data, post-attack return to the ordinary course of business, and reputational harm. This worrying trend is unlikely to slow down any time soon, especially considering the cybersecurity workforce gap, which is getting wider and wider.
According to the 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, companies worldwide hire over 5.4 million cybersecurity professionals, but this number is far from what they actually need to keep their organizations secure. Moreover, the total number of hired cybersecurity professionals increased by a minor 0.1% year-over-year, showing cybersecurity workforce growth has slowed for the first time in six years.
On the other hand, the global cybersecurity workforce gap saw 190 bigger growth, with cost-saving cutbacks, economic uncertainty, artificial intelligence (AI), and a challenging threat landscape as key driving forces. The ISC2 figures show the total number of professionals needed to secure organizations adequately surged by 19% in a year, and hit an all-time high of 4.7 million. That is nearly twice the growth rate reported a year before.