2023 Privacy Statistics

The Ultimate List of Interesting Digital Privacy Stats

Digital Privacy protects the information of Internet users when they surf the net or use their computers, as a user has the right to decide about the visibility of their personal data. In 2021, a staggering 4.66 billion people worldwide have access to the Internet (Statista, 2021), and this number continues to rise.

Online Privacy Concerns

  • 86% of internet users delete their digital footprints to minimize their visibility online. (Pew Research, 2019)
  • 82% of American Internet users are concerned about their internet privacy. (Pew Research, 2019)
  • 80% of social media users are concerned that companies will access their personal information for commercial purposes. (Pew Research, 2019)
  • 90% of Americans are concerned about companies accessing personal data for commercial purposes. (Pew Research, 2019)
  • 55% of internet users use some method to hide from specific companies or individuals. (Pew Research, 2019)
  • 47 percent of Americans experienced financial identity theft in 2020. (Insurance Information Institute, 2021)
  • $712.4 billion is the cost of identity theft in America in 2020. (Insurance Information Institute, 2021)
  • 1 in 10 regular internet users have had information stolen online. (Brandongailin, 2019)
  • 68% of internet users strongly believe that existing privacy laws and regulations are insufficient to protect privacy. (Brandongailin, 2019)
  • 3 in 4 internet users do not want to save their search browsing history for privacy reasons. (Brandongailin, 2019)
  • Google received around 39,536 information requests for disclosure of user information from federal government agencies in the first half of 2020. (Google Transparency Report, 2021)

Online Privacy Breach Incidents

  • 12 billion private records were stolen by cybercriminals in 2018 and will reach 33 billion by 2023. (Juniper Research, 2019)
  • More than half of the stolen records in 2023 will be in the United States. (Juniper Research, 2019)
  • The U.S. remains the number one target for cybercriminals. In 2018, it accounted for 38% of total cyberattacks. (Norton, 2018)
  • 24089 are the average number of security breaches reported by countries in 2017. (Ponemon Institute, 2017)
  • "My Fitness Pal" by Under Armor was hacked in 2018, resulting in data theft of more than 150 million of its customers. (Under Armor, 2018)
  • Cybercrime is the fastest growing crime in the United States. (Cyber Crime Magazine, 2018)
  • Marriot reported the second largest cyberattack in 2018, affecting 500 million accounts. (Marriot, 2018)
  • Yahoo reported that 3 billion accounts were hacked, costing about $1 billion. (Yahoo, 2013)
  • There are 1.9 billion websites in operation worldwide, 30% of which are not secure. (Cyber Magazine, 2018)
  • The number of internet users is expected to increase to 6 billion by 2022, up from 4.3 billion in 2019. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2018)

Online Privacy Breach Cost & Spending

  • The cost of a data breach is much higher in the US. An average data theft costs an American company $7.91 million, compared to $3.61 million globally. (IBM Data Breach Study, 2018)
  • It takes more than 6 months (196 days) to detect a data breach. (IBM Data Breach Study, 2018)
  • The U.S. government will spend $15 in 2019 to stop cybersecurity attacks, a 4% increase over 2018 (Norton, 2019).
  • $2.4 million is the average cost of a malware attack to an organization. (Accenture, 2018)
  • By 2021, the total cost of a cyber attack will reach $6 trillion annually. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2018)
  • Global spending on prevention IT security is estimated to reach $114 billion in 2018. (Gartner, 2019)
  • In 2017, cybercrime costs increased 27% year-over-year. (Accenture, 2017)
  • The average cost of a data breach in 2018 is $5.7 million. (Security Intelligence research, 2018)
  • 92% of malware is spread via email. (CSO Online, 2018)
  • Government, technology, and retail are the most vulnerable industries to cyberattacks. (Tech Republic 2017)

Online Privacy Breach Risk

  • Ransomware attacks a business every 14 seconds in 2019, which will decrease to 11 seconds by 2022. (Harjavec Group, 2019)
  • Thousands of files are unprotected in 4 out of 10 organizations, including health records and credit card information. (Varonis, 2018)
  • 7 out of 10 companies believe that potential threads can be blocked by antivirus software alone. (Ponemon Institute's 2017)
  • 1 in 13 websites lead to malware. (Symantec, 2018)
  • 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses. (Small Business Trends Report, 2019)
  • Only 4 in 10 businesses are prepared for cybersecurity attacks/risks. (IBM, 2019)
  • Mac computers are increasingly vulnerable to malware attacks. (Cisco, 2018)
  • 75% of healthcare organizations are affected by malware, resulting in the loss of a large percentage of healthcare organizations' records. (Cision, 2019)
  • Ransomware attacks are increasing 350% annually. (Cisco, 2019)
  • There are 64 people on the FBI list of most wanted cybercriminals in 2019, up from 19 in 2016. (FBI, 2019)
  • Cybercrimes are grossly underreported, with reported cybercrimes accounting for only 10% to 12% of total cybercrimes. (FBI, 2019)
  • Cybercrime hits businesses in Asia Pacific every 6 minutes. (Cisco, 2019)
  • Amazingly, hacking kits or identity theft and malware tools are available online for as little as $1. (Fortune, 2017)
  • Employee cybersecurity awareness training is the fastest growing category in the cybersecurity industry. (Gartner, 2017) Cybercrime will fuel the growth of illicit cryptocurrency transactions, which will account for up to 70% of total cryptocurrency activity. (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2019)
  • 9 out of 10 companies are experiencing delays in the sales cycle due to privacy concerns. (Cisco 2019)
  • 447 million records were stolen in 2018 alone, a 126% year-over-year growth. (Identity Theft Resource Center, 2019)
  • 6 in 10 small businesses affected by a cyberattack are out of business in the next 6 months. (U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance, 2019)
  • 56% of mid-sized businesses report a security breach in 2018. (Cisco, 2019)
  • Lack of resources in small businesses leaves 55% of the industry vulnerable to cybercrime attacks. (Better Business Bureau)
  • Small and Medium Size businesses are at higher risk of being inclined to pay cybercrime ransom. (Cisco, 2019)
  • In 2018, total venture capital investment in the cybersecurity market reached $5 billion, a 20% growth over last year. (Strategic Cyber Venture, 2019)
  • The US and Israel remain the two leaders in cybersecurity venture capital funding. (Strategic Cyber Venture, 2019)