Cybersecurity and Economics

Estimates of losses to cybercrime vary widely. In 2010, Internet crime loss by individuals totaled $560 million. Phishing alone resulted in $120 million per quarter. A Symantec-commissioned StrategyOne report found that 65 percent of computer users have spent 28 hours and $300 dealing with cybercrime; McAfee estimated a $1 trillion global cost. A single botnet ring took $100 million before the FBI managed to stop it. The UK government estimates that each year the country loses 27 billion to cybercrime, which extrapolated to the US population and converted to dollars would be approximately $210 billion. The UK´s response will be 650 million for cybersecurity. A few years ago, Consumer Reports gave a relatively low number for US cybercrime loss-$7 billion over two years, whereas The Washington Post suggested a cost of $105 billion per year. Another large study estimated that cyberfraud and the like cost between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent of global GDP, or approximately $100 to $200 billion.