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Microsoft Security

Cyberthreat Minute: The scale of worldwide cybercrime

Cybercrime is big and growing bigger. As the threat landscape evolves and security perimeters expand, we aim to frame a macro problem on a micro scale. To illuminate the top threats organizations face in a year, we have broken down a year’s cybercrime research by the minute.

Today’s threat landscape

In any given 60-second window, the following malicious activity is happening.

Breakdown of possible cyber threats that can occur within a 60-second window

The new threat infrastructure detections insight comes from internal RiskIQ data. Microsoft acquired RiskIQ in 2021 to help organizations assess the security of their entire digital enterprise.

Microsoft security data

Microsoft operates global services at a massive scale, allowing us to see, aggregate, and correlate threat signals across the globe and from a variety of industries. Our diverse spectrum of threat data from endpoints, identities, applications, and the cloud are reasoned over by our security researchers, who help to generate a high-fidelity picture of the current state of the threat landscape.

Breakdown of cyber threats that can be blocked by Microsoft cybersecurity within a 60-second window

Cost of cybercrime

Cybercrime is a disruptive and economically corrosive force that causes trillions of dollars in damages every year. The cost of cybercrime comes from damage done to data and property, stolen assets—including intellectual property—and the disruption of business systems and productivity.

Breakdown of the impact of cyber security threats

The expanding internet

As the internet continues to expand, opportunities for cybercrime expand too. And the same applies to organizations. The cloud migration, new digital initiatives, and shadow IT increase the size of the attack surface, and at the enterprise level, that can mean a vast estate spanning multiple clouds and massively complex ecosystems. Meanwhile, flourishing cheap infrastructure and flourishing cybercrime economies grow the threat landscape that organizations must track.

As internet opportunities expand so does the opportunities for cybercrime

Conclusion

The threat landscape is dynamic, and Microsoft has an unparalleled view. We track more than 24 trillion signals every day to develop dynamic, hyper-relevant threat intelligence that evolves with the attack surface and helps us to detect and respond to threats rapidly.

We also offer this intelligence directly to customers, giving them a deep and unique view of the threat landscape, a 360-degree understanding of their exposure to it, and tools to mitigate and respond.

1 https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/05/12/securing-a-new-world-of-hybrid-work-what-to-know-and-what-to-do/

2 https://www.itechpost.com/articles/110312/20220426/crime-grows-technology-1-billion-iot-devices-suffered-attacks-2021.htm#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20there%20was%20more,of%20cyberattacks%20to%20be%20successful
3 https://www.netscout.com/threatreport
4 https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/03/phishing-attacks-december-2021
5 https://owasp.org/Top10/A03_2021-Injection/
6 RiskIQ internal data
7 https://www.sonatype.com/resources/state-of-the-software-supply-chain-2021
8 https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/97166-ransomware-attacks-nearly-doubled-in-2021
9 https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RWUGFg
10 https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RWUGFg
11 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/microsoft-digital-defense-report
12 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/microsoft-digital-defense-report
13 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/microsoft-digital-defense-report
14 RiskIQ internal data
15 https://www.csis.org/analysis/economic-impact-cybercrim
16 https://www.dataprise.com/resources/blog/2022-cybersecurity-spending
17 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1273177/ecommerce-payment-fraud-losses-globally
18 https://www.cybereason.com/hubfs/dam/collateral/ebooks/Cybereason_Ransomware_Research_2021.pdf
19 https://ciphertrace.com/2020-year-end-cryptocurrency-crime-and-anti-money-laundering-report/
20 https://news.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2022/05/03/how-microsofts-digital-crimes-unit-fights-cybercrime
22 https://cobalt.io/blog/business-cost-of-cybercrime
23 RiskIQ internal data
24 https://securitytoday.com/Articles/2020/01/13/The-IoT-Rundown-for-2020.aspx?Page=2
25 RiskIQ internal data
26 https://letsencrypt.org/stats/#growth
27 https://www.riskiq.com/resources/infographic/evil-internet-minute-2021/

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