Cyber-demic’s Dark Side

December 2021

A monthly digest on dark web activity which is heavily influenced by the impact of COVID-19, remote working, nation state activity, seasonal scams, major data breaches, as well as general ID theft protection, data trends, tips and recommendations.

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Big Numbers in 2021

There’s no shortage of recap stories about how the year fared in cybersecurity right now…A few good ones are here and here…But I thought I’d share a few thoughts and eye-opening stats of how 2021 shaped up… According to several reports, total breaches year over year increased by 17% as of Oct 2021 and 2021 looks to be on pace to break all-time record of 1,529 breaches in 2017…The average cost a data breaches worldwide hit an all-time high in 2021 of $4.24 million…Already a popular target, the pandemic didn’t help the healthcare industry…Over 40 million people had health information leaked in 2021… This year was certainly the year of ransomware with a total cost of $20 Billion worldwide in 2021, which is nearly double the impact cost of ransomware in 2019…Lastly, at Experian we added 4 billion records to our dark web database in 2021 to better alert consumers of potential identity theft...Looking ahead, check out my data breach expert colleague Mike Bruemmer's post with predictions for next year.

The Grinch

As a veteran in this field, I’ve never witnessed such a halo affect as the pandemic on cybersecurity…In addition to just the evolvement of cyber attacks and sophistication of hackers…It has been quite a roller-coaster year for all of us and while societies eventually do overcome pandemics, I fear the cyber-demic is here to stay...The continued growth of cyber threats and identity theft will be ever-present even beyond the pandemic as more of our daily lives seems fated to be digitized…It’s no surprise that the Business Book of the Year for 2021, “This is How They Tell Me the World Ends,” is about cyber attacks and hackers…So for 2022, make it one of your New Year’s Resolutions to practice good security practices at all times. ?

This is my final digest…Thank you to those who have read and commented on my cyber-demic postings the last year…Feel free to reach out to me to get connected or if you have questions about Experian’s Data Breach and Identity Protections service offerings for consumers or companies.