We are obviously in trouble because there are large numbers of people with inadequate Cybersecurity habits. How many computers get hacked every year? I asked Claude AI: “How many computers or people get hacked every year in the USA?”
According to statistics from the FBI and cybersecurity firms, hacking incidents affect millions of Americans annually, though exact numbers vary significantly year by year and many incidents go unreported. Here are some key statistics from available data:
- In 2022, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received about 800,000 cybercrime reports with total losses over $10.3 billion
- Roughly 1 in 3 American adults have experienced some form of identity theft
- Business email compromise (BEC) and ransomware attacks affect thousands of organizations annually
- Several hundred million personal records are exposed through data breaches each year
And to gab.ai: “How many computers or people get hacked every year in the USA?”
According to recent statistics, there are approximately 300 million computer users in the United States. On average, about 1 in 3 Americans fall victim to cybercrime each year, which translates to around 100 million people. However, these numbers may vary depending on the source and the specific type of cybercrime being considered.
Also at you.com AI: “How many computers or people get hacked every year in the USA?”
Overview of Hacking Statistics in the USA
In the United States, the scale of hacking incidents is significant, affecting millions of individuals and organizations each year.
Number of People Affected
Approximately 111.7 million Americans are hacked annually, which translates to about one in three Americans experiencing a data breach each year
. This highlights the widespread nature of cyber threats affecting personal data.
Frequency of Cyberattacks
There are around 2,200 cyberattacks occurring each day in the USA, which amounts to over 800,000 attacks per year
. This statistic underscores the persistent threat posed by cybercriminals, with attacks happening nearly every 39 seconds.
you.com got most of the data from zippia.com
Sometimes a hack is indirectly affecting you since you may bank at or are connected to a business which got hacked. But it is obvious that there are definite problems at our information technology oversight in our society at large. Thus I wanted to look at this issue from a different angle (instead of looking at it from a purely technical point of view). Are there some psychological traits that humans have which help us miss something which actually helps the hackers attack us?
There is such a thing as Cognitive Biases: When it comes to assessing risk humans often fail to make rational decisions because our brains take mental shortcuts that prevent us from making the correct choice. Since the 1960s behavioral scientists and psychologists have been researching these failings, and have identified and labelled dozens of them. Here are some that can cause havoc when it comes to assessing risks in business:
The 18 that are listed seem like too much information to take in all at once, so I picked 5 that I have seen first hand in my 30 years in IT:
Gambler’s Fallacy, Status Quo Bias, Anchoring effect, Ostrich effect, and confirmation bias.
The gambler’s fallacy is most insidious since it is hard to decipher for the non math inclined. Anchoring, Ostrich effect, and status quo are prevalent in many situations. Some of these biases are used against us in advertising. (such as the example of anchoring effect in the image above).
I think the bottom line is that the accumulated effect of all these biases is that just enough of us do not pay attention to cybersecurity or do the wrong things just enough to cause the problems that we have. Having 33% of Americans have had identity theft. So being on the receiving end of identity theft is not necessarily the fault of the user themselves, as it is a side effect. But we also are at fault for not demanding that the companies that we do business with are more secure – even if it costs more. Many times costs are a concern which means that the odds of getting your identity stolen with a lower cost product goes up.
This is why I say “All Your Biases Belong to Us”
It stems from the video game terms: “All your bases belong to us”
It originates from a poorly translated cutscene in the 1989 video game Zero Wing, developed by the Japanese company Toaplan. In the game, the antagonist declares, “All your base are belong to us” as part of the storyline, which became infamous due to its awkward English translation.
From there the hackers have started using it as a funny item, but became more real as time went on.
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