Data Theft to Jump 175 Percent by 2023: Juniper Research

Juniper Research is predicting a significant jump in data breaches over the coming years.

In a new report entitled “The Future of Cybercrime & Security”, the market research firm predicts that the number of stolen digital records will rise from an anticipated 12 billion records this year to 146 billion records in 2023 – a 175 percent jump. And yet businesses’ digital security spending will increase by only nine percent per year, on average, in Juniper Research’s estimation.

Small businesses represent a big part of the problem. Despite making up over 99 percent of all companies, Juniper Research says, they will contribute only 13 percent of all digital security spending this year, with most small businesses spending less than $500 per year in this area. “With many such businesses digitising,” the UK-based firm said in a report summary, “this will leave them vulnerable to newer forms of malware which require more advanced cybersecurity, beyond simple endpoint protection.”

The report’s author, James Moar, added that digital security solutions based on artificial intelligence and predictive analytics “are now table stakes for this market,” and that they “need to be made available to all businesses, regardless of size.”

Fortunately, a growing number of firms are pouring money into AI research and development, suggesting that the pace of innovation will offer at least some countermeasure to the rise of cybercrime. In any case, if Juniper Research’s dire warning is prescient, business leaders would do well to embrace these and other sophisticated security technologies like biometric authentication as soon as possible.

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August 16, 2018 – by Alex Perala