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.

According to a 2024 survey of small business leaders and IT professionals in the United States, 39 percent of small companies experienced both security breaches and data breaches in the examined year. In comparison, 19 percent of companies reported not having suffered from any of these cyberattacks.

A survey conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) between September 2023 and January 2024 revealed that the average long-term cost of the most disruptive breaches for medium and large businesses amounted to 3,550 British pounds. The survey was conducted among UK businesses that identified their most disruptive breach or attack in the last 12 months. In the case of micro and small businesses, the average long-term cost of the most significant breach or attack was 90 British pounds.

Cyberattacks are potentially ruinous events for business owners. As of 2024, the average cost the most disruptive cyber security breach in the previous 12 months in the United Kingdom was 1,205 British pounds across all businesses, however, this figure becomes greater as the size of a business increases. The cost of a cyber attack is not only financial, with companies having to spend time on recovering from the attacks. Methods of attackWould-be cyber attackers have a large range of tools at their disposal, with which to get around a business’s digital defenses. Fraudulent emails or being directed to fraudulent websites was by far the most common method used during 2019, with 80 percent of security breaches coming in that form. Preventing future attacks Investing in new security technology is a key focus for European and American businesses. Most forms, of all sizes are committed to increasing their spending on cyber security.

In today's digital landscape, small businesses increasingly recognize the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures, with the Small Business Firewall market emerging as a cornerstone in their defense strategy. A firewall acts as a protective barrier between small business networks and potential cyber threats,

Introduction

Malwarebytes Statistics: Malwarebytes reigns supreme in the top tiers of the cybersecurity domain, identified for its aptness in malware detection and elimination. The company was established in 2008 and has since made remarkable strides in growth, earning it a reputation as one of the most reliable sources of protection against different kinds of cyber threats. This write-up analyses key Malwarebytes statistics within the years 2023 and 2024, giving insights into its market performance, user population, revenue generation, and impact on the industry. In 2023, Malwarebytes continued to leverage its foundation to expand its user base while enhancing product features.

The company remained focused on providing solutions for both individual consumers and businesses with an emphasis on the protection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By 2024, Malwarebytes further consolidated its position in the market through new product development and strategic partnerships, resulting in its growth.

This statistic displays the share of businesses that have had cyber security braches or attacks in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019. Among all respondents, 32 percent had breaches in the past 12 months. With respect to business size, 40 percent of small firms experienced cyber security breaches in the past 12 months.Concerning the size of businesses, micro businesses had two to nine employees, small businesses had 10 to 49 employees, medium businesses had 50 to 249 employees and large businesses had 250 employees or more. On the other hand, there were many types of cyber security breaches experienced by businesses in the past 12 months such as malware.

As of November 2023, over half of small and medium enterprises (SME) in Italy had a budget for cyber security. Of these, 47 percent allocated part of their IT budget to cyber security, while 11 percent reported they had a dedicated budget only for online security in their company. Overall, around four in 10 small and medium enterprises did not have plans for cyber security spending.

As of January 2024, around 58 percent of large companies in the United Kingdom (UK) had experienced cybercrime within the past year. Medium businesses ranked second, with 45 percent of companies experiencing cybercrime. Overall, about 22 percent of UK businesses stated having experienced any form of cybercrime in the preceding year.

As of November 2023, only 13 percent of the Italian small and medium enterprises (SME) reported they experienced cyber attacks in the previous four years. In comparison, 87 percent of the surveyed small and medium-sized companies reported they had not encountered cyber attacks as of the end of 2023.

This statistic displays the share of business who don't know the source of the most disruptive cyber security breach or attack in the last twelve months in the United Kingdom (UK) as of 2019. Among all respondents, 62 percent did not know the sources which contributed to the most disruptive breach. With respect to the size of businesses, large firms were the least type of companies to not know the source of the most disruptive breach with a share of 52 percent.

Concerning the size of businesses, micro businesses had two to nine employees, small businesses had 10 to 49 employees, medium businesses had 50 to 249 employees and large businesses had 250 employees or more.

This statistic displays the average time spent by businesses dealing with the most disruptive breach in the last twelve months in the United Kingdom (UK). Micro or small businesses spent on average 1.3 days dealing with the most disruptive breach in the last 12 months. On the other hand, medium businesses spent on average 2.2 days dealing with the most disruptive breach.Cyber security is designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from breaches, attacks or an unauthorized access. The time taken by each company to deal with breaches differs with respect to the type of the breach and the size of the company.

As of November 2023, only 32 percent of Italian small and medium enterprises (SME) reported they were prepared to face a cyber attack and its consequences. In comparison, around 20 percent of small and medium companies in Italy reported being ill prepared, while almost half of the surveyed enterprises reported being unprepared for the eventuality of a cyber attack.

A 2022 survey showed that 85 percent of Canadian leaders of small to medium-sized enterprises agreed that having a strong cyber strategy is critical to building trust with key stakeholders. More than 70 percent of them stated feeling well prepared for a cyberattack.

As of 2024, the average cost of a data breach in the United States amounted to 9.36 million U.S. dollars, down from 9.48 million U.S. dollars in the previous year. The global average cost per data breach was 4.88 million U.S. dollars in 2024. Cost of a data breach in different countries worldwide Data breaches impose a big threat for organizations globally. The monetary damage caused by data breaches has increased in many markets in the past decade. In 2023, Canada followed the U.S. by data breach costs, with an average of 5.13 million U.S. dollars. Since 2019, the average monetary damage caused by loss of sensitive information in Canada has increased notably. In the United Kingdom, the average cost of a data breach in 2024 amounted to around 4.53 million U.S. dollars, while in Germany it stood at 5.31 million U.S. dollars. The cost of data breach by industry and segment Data breach costs vary depending on the industry and segment. For the fourth consecutive year, the global healthcare sector registered the highest costs of data breach, which in 2024 amounted to about nine million U.S. dollars. Financial institutions ranked second, with an average cost of six million U.S. dollars for a data breach. Detection and escalation was the costliest segment in data breaches worldwide, with 1.63 U.S. dollars on average. The cost for lost business ranked second, while response following a breach came across as the third-costliest segment.

This statistic displays the average recovery cost of the most disruptive cyber security breach for businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020, by business size. Medium/large businesses reported that the average recovery cost of their most disruptive breaches amounted to 1090 British pounds, whereas micro and small businesses reported an average recovery cost of 580 British pounds.The average direct cost and recovery cost of the most disruptive security breaches and the average cost of all cyber security breaches depend heavily on the size of the business. Concerning the size of businesses, micro firms had two to nine employees, small firms had 10 to 49 employees, medium firms had 50 to 249 employees and large firms had 250 employees or more.

In a survey conducted in 2020 within the Asia-Pacific region, 68.2 percent of the surveyed small businesses in India thought it was likely that a cyber attack would occur in 2021. Comparatively, for the same survey 16.3 percent of the surveyed small businesses in New Zealand thought it was likely that a cyber attack would occur in 2021.

In 2023, the number of data compromises in the United States stood at 3,205 cases. Meanwhile, over 353 million 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 2022, healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing were the three industry sectors that recorded most data breaches. The number of healthcare data breaches in the United States has gradually increased within the past few years. In the financial sector, data compromises increased almost twice between 2020 and 2022, while manufacturing saw an increase of more than three times in data compromise incidents. 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.

In 2025, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) were forecast to spend 29.8 billion U.S. dollars on managed security services. Overall, SMBs were expected to spend 90 billion U.S. dollars on cyber security in 2025, up from 57 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The regions with the highest anticipated spend are North America, the Asia Pacific region, and western Europe.