A post on the Halock website (https://www.halock.com/what-are-the-cyber-risks-and-challenges-by-industry/) gives a snapshot of the industries most frequently targeted by cyber criminals.
- Healthcare: 34% of organizations experienced a ransomware attack in 2020; almost two thirds were successful. The average cost of an attack is $1.3 million. The industry lost $20.8 billion in downtime, twice the cost in 2019.
- Health insurers: Patient records are worth as much as $1,000 on the dark web. The vast amount of personal information insurers collect makes them a target.
- Finance: Cyber attacks on banks have increased in the past six years. JP Morgan-Chase alone spends $600 million a year on cyber security and employs over 3,000 to protect their digital assets. Banks have the highest average remediation costs at $5 million.
- Manufacturing: One in five firms is targeted by cyber attacks, including big firms like JBS Foods, Molson Coors and Jack Daniels. According o the 2021 Global Threat Intelligence Report, the manufacturing sector experienced a 300% increase in cyber attacks worldwide.
- Education: K-12 school systems are ransomware targets during back to school months of August and September. Colleges and universities are targets for research data.
- Professional services: Legal and accounting firms have third party information and are targets of cyber espionage.