Did the COVID-19 pandemic really affect cybersecurity? Short answer – Yes. Cybercrime is up 600% due to COVID-19.

In 2024, manufacturing saw the highest share of cyberattacks among the leading industries worldwide. During the examined year, manufacturing companies encountered more than a quarter of the total cyberattacks. Organizations in the finance and insurance followed, with around 23 percent. Professional, business, and consumer services ranked third, with 18 percent of reported cyberattacks. Manufacturing industry and cyberattacks The industry of manufacturing has been in the center of cyberattacks in a long time. The share of cyberattacks targeting organizations in this sector in 2018 was at 10 percent, while in 2024, it amounted to 26 percent. The situation is even more compliacted when we look at the cyber vulnerabilities found in this sector. In 2024, critical vulnerabilities in manufacturing companies lasted 205 days on average. IT perspective and prevention With recent technology developments, cybersecurity is crucial to an organization’s success. Realizing this, companies have been gradually increasing cybersecurity investments. Thus, in 2024, the cybersecurity budget worldwide was forecast to increase to nearly 283 billion U.S. dollars. Roughly nine in ten board directors of companies worldwide in professional services and media and entertainment industries say they expect an increase in the cybersecurity budget.

Phishing, smishing, and business e-mail compromise (BEC) have been the most widespread types of cyber attacks in the United States, resulting in data compromises. In 2023, these attacks made up around 18 percent of the total cyber attacks in the country that led to a violation of personal data. Ransomware attacks ranked second, while malware followed. A significant part of the examined attacks, 58 percent, were unspecified.

An extensive dataset offering key insights into cyber security statistics and trends for 2025, including data breaches, cybercrime costs, threat vectors, and industry-specific impacts.

The average cyber attack takes 280 days to identify and contain and it costs an average of about $3.86 million to deal with properly.

The largest reported data leakage as of January 2025 was the Cam4 data breach in March 2020, which exposed more than 10 billion data records. The second-largest data breach in history so far, the Yahoo data breach, occurred in 2013. The company initially reported about one billion exposed data records, but after an investigation, the company updated the number, revealing that three billion accounts were affected. The National Public Data Breach was announced in August 2024. The incident became public when personally identifiable information of individuals became available for sale on the dark web. Overall, the security professionals estimate the leakage of nearly three billion personal records. The next significant data leakage was the March 2018 security breach of India's national ID database, Aadhaar, with over 1.1 billion records exposed. This included biometric information such as identification numbers and fingerprint scans, which could be used to open bank accounts and receive financial aid, among other government services.

Cybercrime - the dark side of digitalization As the world continues its journey into the digital age, corporations and governments across the globe have been increasing their reliance on technology to collect, analyze and store personal data. This, in turn, has led to a rise in the number of cyber crimes, ranging from minor breaches to global-scale attacks impacting billions of users – such as in the case of Yahoo. Within the U.S. alone, 1802 cases of data compromise were reported in 2022. This was a marked increase from the 447 cases reported a decade prior. The high price of data protection As of 2022, the average cost of a single data breach across all industries worldwide stood at around 4.35 million U.S. dollars. This was found to be most costly in the healthcare sector, with each leak reported to have cost the affected party a hefty 10.1 million U.S. dollars. The financial segment followed closely behind. Here, each breach resulted in a loss of approximately 6 million U.S. dollars - 1.5 million more than the global average.

These cybersecurity statistics will help you understand the state of online security and give you a better idea of what it takes to protect yourself.

In 2024, the number of data compromises in the United States stood at 3,158 cases. Meanwhile, over 1.35 billion individuals were affected in the same year by data compromises, including data breaches, leakage, and exposure. While these are three different events, they have one thing in common. As a result of all three incidents, the sensitive data is accessed by an unauthorized threat actor. Industries most vulnerable to data breaches Some industry sectors usually see more significant cases of private data violations than others. This is determined by the type and volume of the personal information organizations of these sectors store. In 2024 the financial services, healthcare, and professional services were the three industry sectors that recorded most data breaches. Overall, the number of healthcare data breaches in some industry sectors in the United States has gradually increased within the past few years. However, some sectors saw decrease. Largest data exposures worldwide In 2020, an adult streaming website, CAM4, experienced a leakage of nearly 11 billion records. This, by far, is the most extensive reported data leakage. This case, though, is unique because cyber security researchers found the vulnerability before the cyber criminals. The second-largest data breach is the Yahoo data breach, dating back to 2013. The company first reported about one billion exposed records, then later, in 2017, came up with an updated number of leaked records, which was three billion. In March 2018, the third biggest data breach happened, involving India’s national identification database Aadhaar. As a result of this incident, over 1.1 billion records were exposed.

India Cyber Security Incidents: Total data was reported at 1,592,917.000 Unit in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,391,457.000 Unit for 2022. India Cyber Security Incidents: Total data is updated yearly, averaging 49,908.500 Unit from Dec 2004 (Median) to 2023, with 20 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,592,917.000 Unit in 2023 and a record low of 23.000 Unit in 2004. India Cyber Security Incidents: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Transportation, Post and Telecom Sector – Table IN.TF010: Information Technology Statistics: Cyber Security Incidents.

📌 Context of the Dataset

The Healthcare Ransomware Dataset was created to simulate real-world cyberattacks in the healthcare industry. Hospitals, clinics, and research labs have become prime targets for ransomware due to their reliance on real-time patient data and legacy IT infrastructure. This dataset provides insight into attack patterns, recovery times, and cybersecurity practices across different healthcare organizations.

Why is this important?

Ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations can shut down entire hospitals, delay treatments, and put lives at risk. Understanding how different healthcare organizations respond to attacks can help develop better security strategies. The dataset allows cybersecurity analysts, data scientists, and researchers to study patterns in ransomware incidents and explore predictive modeling for risk mitigation.

📌 Sources and Research Inspiration This simulated dataset was inspired by real-world cybersecurity reports and built using insights from official sources, including:

1️⃣ IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report (2024)

The healthcare sector had the highest average cost of data breaches ($10.93 million per incident). On average, organizations recovered only 64.8% of their data after paying ransom. Healthcare breaches took 277 days on average to detect and contain.

2️⃣ Sophos State of Ransomware in Healthcare (2024)

67% of healthcare organizations were hit by ransomware in 2024, an increase from 60% in 2023. 66% of backup compromise attempts succeeded, making data recovery significantly more difficult. The most common attack vectors included exploited vulnerabilities (34%) and compromised credentials (34%).

3️⃣ Health & Human Services (HHS) Cybersecurity Reports

Ransomware incidents in healthcare have doubled since 2016. Organizations that fail to monitor threats frequently experience higher infection rates.

4️⃣ Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Alerts

Identified phishing, unpatched software, and exposed RDP ports as top ransomware entry points. Only 13% of healthcare organizations monitor cyber threats more than once per day, increasing the risk of undetected attacks.

5️⃣ Emsisoft 2020 Report on Ransomware in Healthcare

The number of ransomware attacks in healthcare increased by 278% between 2018 and 2023. 560 healthcare facilities were affected in a single year, disrupting patient care and emergency services.

📌 Why is This a Simulated Dataset?

This dataset does not contain real patient data or actual ransomware cases. Instead, it was built using probabilistic modeling and structured randomness based on industry benchmarks and cybersecurity reports.

How It Was Created:

1️⃣ Defining the Dataset Structure

The dataset was designed to simulate realistic attack patterns in healthcare, using actual ransomware case studies as inspiration.

Columns were selected based on what real-world cybersecurity teams track, such as: Attack methods (phishing, RDP exploits, credential theft). Infection rates, recovery time, and backup compromise rates. Organization type (hospitals, clinics, research labs) and monitoring frequency.

2️⃣ Generating Realistic Data Using ChatGPT & Python

ChatGPT assisted in defining relationships between attack factors, ensuring that key cybersecurity concepts were accurately reflected. Python’s NumPy and Pandas libraries were used to introduce randomized attack simulations based on real-world statistics. Data was validated against industry research to ensure it aligns with actual ransomware attack trends.

3️⃣ Ensuring Logical Relationships Between Data Points

Hospitals take longer to recover due to larger infrastructure and compliance requirements. Organizations that track more cyber threats recover faster because they detect attacks earlier. Backup security significantly impacts recovery time, reflecting the real-world risk of backup encryption attacks.

Introduction

Cybersecurity Statistics: Cybersecurity is now a crucial part of everyday life because as technology grows, the risk of cyber threats also increases. Both individuals and organizations must take steps to protect their digital assets and sensitive information from potential attacks. When talking about cybersecurity, it's common first to explain why it's important, what types of threats and weaknesses exist, and how risks can be managed.

This includes understanding the roles that both people and businesses play in protecting data, the need for regular updates and security patches, having strong ways to confirm identities, and teaching people about cybersecurity. In conclusion, it's important to remember that cybersecurity is a continuous process, and we must always stay alert and adjust to new risks. We shall shed more light on Cybersecurity Statistics through this article.

As of September 2024, almost 30 percent of cyber incidents detected in the past 12 months were hacking incidents. A further 28.7 percent were incidents of misuse, and 15.2 percent of detections revealed malware attacks.

Introduction

Chinese Cyber Attack Statistics: Chinese cyber attacks have become a major global issue over the last 20 years. These attacks target governments, businesses, and important industries around the world. Many of these attacks are supported by the state, and their main goals are spying, stealing intellectual property, and gaining advantages in areas like technology, defence, and telecommunications.

In 2024, the global digital world will continue to face threats from cyberattacks linked to China. Because of this, governments and organisations need to strengthen their cybersecurity measures to protect their assets and data from these harmful activities.

Percentage of enterprises impacted by cyber security incidents in specific ways by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and size of enterprise.

In 2024, around a quarter of detected cyberattacks worldwide targeted the manufacturing industry. This figure saw a notable increase between 2019 and 2020 when the share of manufacturing cyberattacks jumped from eight percent to nearly 18 percent.

Some industries are affected by cyber attacks more than others. These next cybersecurity statistics detail specifically who is affected by cyber-attacks and why they are.

Introduction

Cybersecurity Statistics: In a world that is increasingly becoming digital, cybersecurity statistics are now more important than ever for enterprises, governments, and individuals. The world has undergone significant changes in terms of online data storage and e-commerce, which have expanded the threat landscape. Cybercriminals have become sophisticated by using advanced methods to compromise security systems, steal private information, and disrupt operations. Cybersecurity statistics result in huge financial losses as well as reputational damages, hence making it one of the most critical elements in modern-day businesses and governance.

The global cybersecurity market has grown tremendously over the past few years due to the increasing number and complexity of cyber threats. In 2023, the cybersecurity industry was estimated to be worth around $217 billion, representing an increase of 15% from 2022. This growth was primarily due to increased awareness regarding cyber risks, coupled with numerous high-profile data breaches affecting both organizations and governments across the globe.

Revenue in the cybersecurity industry worldwide reached $146.32 billion in 2022.

The European Repository of Cyber Incidents (EuRepoC) is releasing the Global Dataset of Cyber Incidents in Version 1.3 as an extract of our backend database. This official release contains fully consolidated cyber incident data reviewed by our interdisciplinary experts in the fields of politics, law and technology across all 60 variables covered by the European Repository. Version 1.3 covers the years 2000 – 2024 entirely. The Global Dataset is meant for reliable, evidence-based analysis. If you require real-time data, please refer to the download option in our TableView or contact us for special requirements (including API access).

The dataset now contains data on 3416 cyber incidents which started between 01.01.2000 and 31.12.2024. The European Repository of Cyber Incidents (EuRepoC) gathers, codes, and analyses publicly available information from over 220 sources and 600 Twitter accounts daily to report on dynamic trends in the global, and particularly the European, cyber threat environment.

For more information on the scope and data collection methodology see: https://eurepoc.eu/methodology

Full Codebook available here

Information about each file

please scroll down this page entirely to see all files available. Zenodo only displays the attribution dataset by default.

Global Database (csv or xlsx):
This file includes all variables coded for each incident, organised such that one row corresponds to one incident - our main unit of investigation. Where multiple codes are present for a single variable for a single incident, these are separated with semi-colons within the same cell.

Receiver Dataset (csv or xlsx):
In this file, the data of affected entities and individuals (receivers) is restructured to facilitate analysis. Each cell contains only a single code, with the data "unpacked" across multiple rows. Thus, a single incident can span several rows, identifiable through the unique identifier assigned to each incident (incident_id).

Attribution Dataset (csv or xlsx):
This file follows a similar approach to the receiver dataset. The attribution data is "unpacked" over several rows, allowing each cell to contain only one code. Here too, a single incident may occupy several rows, with the unique identifier enabling easy tracking of each incident (incident_id). In addition, some attributions may also have multiple possible codes for one variable, these are also "unpacked" over several rows, with the attribution_id enabling to track each attribution.

Dyadic Dataset (csv or xlsx):
The dyadic dataset puts state dyads in the focus. Each row in the dataset represents one cyber incident in a specific dyad. Because incidents may affect multiple receivers, single incidents can be duplicated in this format, when they affected multiple countries.