Why Is Cybersecurity Important? 2026 Statistics and Real-World Risks

Updated September 2026. We replaced the old 2015–2019 statistics on this page with figures from the FBI, IBM and Verizon reports published in 2026, and added recent real-world incidents. Every number below links to its source.

Cybersecurity is important because almost everything we rely on now runs on connected systems: payroll, hospitals, fuel pipelines, bank accounts, phones and the software that ties them together. When security fails, the result isn’t just a technical problem. People lose money, patients get turned away, stores empty their shelves and companies face lawsuits and regulators.

The short version: cybersecurity protects people, money, operations and trust. The rest of this guide shows, with current data, why each of those is at risk and what organizations and individuals can do about it.

Cybersecurity statistics for 2026

These are the most recent figures from the major annual reports.

• $20.877 billion in reported losses. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, up from 859,532 in 2024, and reported losses rose 26% (FBI 2025 Internet Crime Report).
• Investment scams and BEC lead losses. Investment fraud cost Americans about $8.6 billion in 2025 (including $7.2 billion in crypto investment fraud), and business email compromise cost $3.05 billion (FBI).
• Older adults are hit hardest. People over 60 reported about $7.7 billion in losses, more than any other age group (FBI).
• $4.99 million per breach. The global average cost of a data breach hit a record $4.99 million, up 12% from last year. In the U.S. it reached $11.5 million (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026).
• 247 days to find and contain a breach, on average, and phishing was the top initial attack vector for the fourth year in a row (IBM).
• Vulnerability exploitation is now the top way in. It was the initial access vector in 31% of breaches, up from 20% the year before (Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report).
• Ransomware appeared in 48% of breaches, up from 44%, and third parties were involved in 48% of breaches, up from 30% (Verizon).
• Patching lags. Only 26% of vulnerabilities on CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list were fully remediated by organizations in Verizon’s data in 2025 (Verizon).
• People are still central. A human element, such as a mistake, a stolen password or a social engineering trick, was involved in 62% of breaches (Verizon).
• AI is raising the stakes. More than one in four organizations that suffered a malicious attack said it was AI-driven, a 56% increase, and those attacks added about $1 million to the average breach cost (IBM). The FBI logged 22,364 AI-related complaints in 2025 with nearly $893 million in losses.

Keep in mind what these numbers measure. FBI figures only include losses people reported. IBM’s cost figures come from 602 breached organizations studied between March 2025 and February 2026. Verizon’s data covers more than 22,000 confirmed breaches from November 2024 through October 2025.

Why cybersecurity is important: 7 reasons

1. It protects people’s money and identities

Most cybercrime targets ordinary people, not just big companies. Phishing and spoofing were the most-reported crime type in 2025, with 191,561 complaints to the FBI. Scammers now use voice clones, fake profiles and deepfake videos to impersonate relatives, banks and officials. Basic habits, such as unique passwords, passkeys and multi-factor authentication, stop a large share of account takeovers. Our guide to best password practices covers what actually works.

2. It keeps businesses running

A serious attack can stop a company for weeks.

• In February 2024, attackers used stolen credentials to log in to a Change Healthcare remote access portal that didn’t have multi-factor authentication, according to UnitedHealth Group’s CEO in Senate testimony (Senate Finance Committee). The ransomware attack disrupted claims and pharmacy payments across the U.S. for months, and UnitedHealth later put the number of affected people at about 192.7 million (Healthcare IT News).
• In 2025, a cyberattack on UK retailer Marks & Spencer, which started with social engineering through a third party, halted online orders for weeks. M&S estimated a hit of about £300 million to operating profit (BBC).
• A cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover in late 2025 shut down production, and the UK government stepped in with a £1.5 billion loan guarantee to support the company and its suppliers (GOV.UK).

3. It protects critical infrastructure and public safety

Hospitals, water systems, energy and transportation all depend on computers. The FBI says the most-reported ransomware variants of 2025 hit critical manufacturing, healthcare and government facilities hardest. When these systems fail, the harm is physical: delayed surgeries, fuel shortages or unsafe water. Our guide to cyber attacks on critical infrastructure walks through the biggest cases, including the 2021 Colonial Pipeline shutdown.

4. It’s a legal and regulatory requirement

Security is no longer optional for most organizations. U.S. public companies must disclose material cyber incidents to the SEC within four business days of deciding an incident is material. Healthcare, finance and defense contractors have sector rules (HIPAA, the FTC Safeguards Rule, CMMC), and 24 U.S. states have passed comprehensive consumer privacy laws. In Europe, GDPR, NIS2 and DORA carry large fines. Our overview of cybersecurity laws and regulations explains which rules apply to whom.

5. Your security depends on your suppliers

Attackers increasingly go through vendors, software providers and service partners. Verizon found a third party involved in 48% of breaches in its 2026 report. That means reviewing vendor access, requiring MFA for partners and knowing which suppliers can reach your data.

6. It protects trust and reputation

Customers, patients and partners share data on the assumption it will be protected. A breach can undo years of goodwill, and the costs of lost business and customer churn are a major part of IBM’s breach cost estimate: detection and escalation plus lost business made up 63% of the average cost in 2026.

7. It’s a matter of national security

State-sponsored hackers target telecom networks, government agencies and defense suppliers to spy and to pre-position for future conflicts. In late 2024, CISA issued guidance for senior officials to use end-to-end encrypted apps after Chinese government-affiliated hackers compromised commercial telecom infrastructure (CISA). North Korean hackers stole about $1.5 billion from the Bybit crypto exchange in 2025, according to the FBI, money that helps fund the regime.

The main areas of cybersecurity

Cybersecurity isn’t one product. It’s several overlapping disciplines, and a weakness in any of them can undo the others:

• Network security: firewalls, segmentation, secure remote access and monitoring that keep attackers off internal networks.
• Application security: writing, testing and patching software so attackers can’t exploit its flaws, now the top way into organizations in Verizon’s data.
• Cloud security: configuring cloud accounts, identities and storage correctly, since more company data now lives in SaaS and cloud platforms than on office servers.
• IoT and operational technology (OT) security: protecting cameras, medical devices, factory equipment and industrial controls that often can’t run traditional security software.
• Data and information security: encryption, access controls and backups that keep data confidential, accurate and available. Our guide to how asymmetric encryption works explains one of the building blocks.
• Identity security: MFA, passkeys and least-privilege access, because stolen credentials remain one of the most common ways in.
• The human factor: ongoing training, clear reporting channels and processes that make it easy for people to verify unusual requests.

AI now shows up on both sides. Attackers use it to write convincing phishing messages and clone voices, while defenders use it to spot anomalies and speed up investigations. IBM’s 2026 study found that security teams using AI and automation extensively saved about $1.93 million per breach and cut breach lifecycles by 65 days compared with those that didn’t.

Who needs cybersecurity?

• Individuals: to protect bank accounts, email, phones and personal data from scams and account takeover.
• Small businesses: attackers go after organizations with weaker defenses. Among ransomware complaints the FBI received from organizations outside critical sectors in 2025, legal services (18%), contractors (17%) and engineering and architecture firms (10%) were the most common victims.
• Large organizations and governments: they hold the most data and run the most critical services, so they face the most capable attackers and the heaviest regulation.

How to improve your cybersecurity

You don’t need to do everything at once. These steps address the attack paths that show up most in the data above:

1. Turn on phishing-resistant MFA (passkeys or security keys) for email, remote access, cloud consoles and admin accounts. Stolen passwords without MFA were the way in at Change Healthcare and Colonial Pipeline.
2. Patch internet-facing systems fast, starting with vulnerabilities on CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
3. Keep offline, tested backups so ransomware can’t take your data hostage.
4. Train people to slow down on urgent payment requests, password resets and “IT support” calls, and verify through a known channel.
5. Manage vendor and third-party access with least privilege and regular reviews.
6. Write and rehearse an incident response plan, including who to call and how to keep operating.
7. Use a framework to organize the work. Our guide to cybersecurity frameworks explains NIST CSF 2.0, CIS Controls and ISO 27001, and our list of essential cybersecurity controls maps each control to them.

If you want to work in the field, cybersecurity skills are in steady demand. Our guide to the best cybersecurity certifications in 2026 shows which credentials help you get hired.

For a short weekday summary of the breaches, scams and vulnerabilities that matter, sign up for the CyberExperts Daily Brief.

Related guides

Identity is where many of the incidents above started. These comparisons help teams choose tools:

• IAM vs PAM vs ZTNA vs ITDR
• Best identity security tools in 2026
• Best PAM tools in 2026
• Best ZTNA tools in 2026
• Best ITDR tools in 2026

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report: ic3.gov (PDF)
• FBI, Cryptocurrency and AI Scams Bilk Americans of Billions (April 6, 2026): fbi.gov
• IBM and Ponemon Institute, Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026: ibm.com
• Verizon, 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report: verizon.com
• Andrew Witty, written testimony to the Senate Finance Committee (May 1, 2024): finance.senate.gov (PDF)
• Healthcare IT News, New numbers from the Change Healthcare data breach (Aug 2025): healthcareitnews.com
• BBC, M&S cyber-attack disruption to last until July and cost £300m: bbc.com
• GOV.UK, Government backs Jaguar Land Rover with £1.5 billion loan guarantee (Sept 28, 2025): gov.uk
• CISA, Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance: cisa.gov
• FBI PSA, North Korea Responsible for $1.5 Billion Bybit Hack: ic3.gov
• CISA, Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog: cisa.gov

George Mutune

I am a cyber security professional with a passion for delivering proactive strategies for day to day operational challenges. I am excited to be working with leading cyber security teams and professionals on projects that involve machine learning & AI solutions to solve the cyberspace menace and cut through inefficiency that plague today's business environments.