Cybercrime may now cost the world almost $600 billion, or 0.8 percent of global GDP, according to the report Economic Impact of Cybercrime–No Slowing Down released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies with McAfee on Wednesday.
The annual losses are up from a 2014 study that put global losses around $445 billion. The report attributes the growth over three years to quick adoption of new technologies by cybercriminals, the increased number of new users online and the increased ease of committing cybercrime.
