KOCHI: Renowned cybersecurity expert Sunil Varkey has warned that the global cost of cybercrime is projected to skyrocket to a staggering $27 trillion by 2027. The dire prediction, which serves as a stark wake-up call for governments, businesses, and individuals, comes amid growing concerns over the rapid proliferation of cyber threats and attacks worldwide. He revealed the trend during a session on survivability in the cyber world at the c0c0n conference on Friday.
This figure includes not only the direct financial losses resulting from cyber attacks but also the indirect costs associated with cybersecurity breaches such as legal expenses, reputation damage, and the cost of implementing robust security.
“If we analyse the data, the cyber-attacks are not going away. Our cyber defence is not working effectively. If the estimated cost of cybercrime worldwide was pegged at 0.86 trillion dollars in 2018, now it has touched 11.5 trillion dollars. If this goes on like this, by 2027, the cost of cybercrime would be 23.82 trillion dollars,” said Sunil, the former chief information security officer at Wipro and Idea.
He said the failure to execute basic fundamentals is the reason behind the disturbing trend. “A cyber attack is happening every 39 seconds. That means fundamentally, something that we are doing is not right, or we need to change the way we are doing it. As per the findings, while 50 per cent of cyber attacks are happening due to human errors, 43 percent of the same is happening due to a lack of cyber hygiene, or poor maintenance,” he said.