Rapid Expansion of Internet

• As per the 2018 Global Digital suite of reports from We Are Social and Hootsuite, out of the total global population of 7.593 Billion, 53% i.e. 4.021 Billion were internet users.
• In terms of specific usage, 3.196 Billion i.e. 42% of the world population were active social media users, and 2.958 Billion or 39% of the population were active mobile social users.
• Globally, the number of internet users grew by 7 percent year-on-year in 2018 with Africa experiencing the fastest growth rate with the number of internet users across the continent increasing by more than 20 percent year-on-year.
• In terms of the share of web traffic by device in January 2018, Laptops and Desktops were at 43% with a negative growth rate of 3% year-on-year. Mobile phones had the largest share of 52% with a positive growth rate of 4% year-on-year and Tablet devices had a share of 4% with a significant negative growth rate of 13% year-on-year.
• Although other devices occupied a minor share of 0.14% of the overall web traffic, their year-on-year growth rate was significantly high i.e. 17%
• According to Vernon Turner, senior vice president of enterprise systems at IDC, approximately 80 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2025.
• The total amount of digital data created worldwide would mushroom from 4.4 zettabytes in 2013 to 44 zettabytes by 2020 to 180 zettabytes by 2025 

Risks of Cyber-Threats

• As estimated in 2019, 43% of small businesses are severely affected by data breaches and cyber attacks, while only 14% of small businesses rate their ability to mitigate cyber risks, attacks, and vulnerabilities as highly effective.
• Cyber attacks are the primary reason for around 60% of small companies to go out of business
• In terms of costs associated with cyber-threats, each successful cyber attack costs over $5 million or $301 per employee.
• Overall, cybercrime is projected to cause damage of over $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015.
• Around 94% of targeted emails use malicious file attachments as the payload or infection source, while 91% of cyberattacks begin with a "spear phishing" email which is an increasingly common form of phishing that makes use of information about a target to make attacks more specific and personal.
• About 30% of the phishing emails are opened by the users and 12% of those users click on the infected link or attachment.