The threat of cyber attacks is something that no-one can ignore. As our reliance on technology has grown, so too has the scale and complexity of the risk posed online.
Cyber security now has to be among the considerations for investors. When people pore over a forex calendar plotting their currency trades or scour financial news sites gauging the best assets and investments, they might well want to weigh up how secure the market is when it comes to the threat of cybercrime.
So, where is this threat most keenly felt? Well, that depends on how you measure the threat. In this post, we’ll have a look at some different metrics highlighted by Comparitech and other sources and what they tell us about the relative strength of these economies.
Ransomware – India
Ransomware is one of the most terrifying types of cyber attack – in which hackers demand payment to prevent the release of sensitive data. This is the sort of attack that could do long lasting financial and reputational damage to a business – depending on the nature of the business involved. This sort of attack is most common in India, where it was found that almost one in ten users (9.6%) have been attacked by some form of ransomware. Russia (6.4%) and Kazakhstan (5.75%) were second and third worst affected.
DDos/malware – China
While ransomware poses a threat to a businesses’ data, DDoS attacks can bring a website to its knees. Downtime can be extremely costly, especially for online-only operations who are closed for custom by such an attack. The fact that just under 30% of DDoS attacks originated in China is, therefore, alarming – as is the fact that 49% of computers in the country is said to have suffered from malware too.
Highest cost – America
While the number of attacks is telling, you can tell a lot about the scale of the danger by the impact. Lots of small scale and low level attacks are one thing, but bigger, costlier incidents have a deeper economic impact on businesses and customers. It’s for this reason that CompariTech’s figures for America are alarming. It found that cyber crime costs the country $17.36 million, more than double that of Japan, which had the second highest cost of $8.39 million. The cost of cyber crime was third highest in Germany ($7.84 million), fourth in the UK ($7.21 million) and fifth in Brazil ($5.27 million).
Insecure networks – Belgium
Insecure networks are a breeding ground for the spreading of online threats. With this in mind, Rapid7 used its Project Sonar software to come up with a ‘National Exposure Index’ outlining the countries with the most unsafe or potentially vulnerable internet services. Top of the index – and therefore most insecure – was Belgium. Tajikistan was second and Samoa third.
E-commerce attacks – Indonesia
E-commerce sites are clearly a key target for hackers given that they handle high volumes of sensitive financial data. The Merkle recently stated that Indonesia suffers most from cyber attacks – with the rate jumping by 33% between 2014 and 2015 – and that E-commerce sites are the victims in most of these cases.
Whether it’s Indonesia and e-commerce attacks, Belgium’s insecure networks, DDoS and malware in China, ransomware in India or the cost of attacks in America – there are many countries that can be said to be at risk from cyber crimes for different reasons. The challenge for these countries in particular is to be able to counter the threat and reassure businesses that they are a safe place to operate in.
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