“Adversaries matured faster than ever, innovating techniques and tools as well as finding creative solutions to circumvent modern defenses, all while staying laser-focused on their targets. Adversaries are streamlining their tactics, refining and scaling successful strategies, and learning from both their own and their colleagues’ mistakes and successes to conduct attacks with a business-oriented approach.”
The above isn’t a line from the FBI or the latest Marvel Avengers movie; it’s a quote from CrowdStrike’s 2025 Global Threat Report on cybersecurity. If it’s meant to alarm you, that’s OK, because it should. Here are a few stats on current cybersecurity trends:
- Worldwide cybercrime costs are estimated to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, emphasizing the need for enhanced cybersecurity measures. (Statista)
- 26 new adversaries tracked by CrowdStrike, raising the total to 257. (CrowdStrike 2025 report)
- Cybercrime losses reported to the FBI’s Interne Crime Complaint Center (IC3) increased by 22% between 2022 and 2023 (FBI)
- In 2024 the avg cost of a data breach was $4.88M. (IBM)
- Global cyber insurance premiums are projected to grow from $14 billion in 2023 to $29 billion by 2027. (Munich Re)
- When remote work is a factor causing a data breach, the avg cost per breach is $173,074 higher, underscoring the cybersecurity challenges in the evolving work landscape. (IBM)
- Average eCrime breakout time dropped to 48 minutes with the fastest breakout observed at just 51 seconds. (CrowdStrike)
- Phishing represents the most common email attack method, accounting for over a third of cyberattacks. (Hornetsecurity)
- Vishing attacks skyrocketed 442% between the first and second half of 2024. (CrowdStrike)
- 78% of financial services organizations experienced ransomware attacks over the past year. (Bridewell)
As we progress further and further down the technology path so will the criminals and nefarious entities. It’s not just individuals or small groups of people, it can be very large groups of hundreds even thousands of people sponsored by countries. We encounter attempts at cybercrime on a daily basis. The vast majority are prevented by security services on our mobile phones, portable devices, computers, network software, firewalls and hardware. Thankfully, service providers and technology companies are working hard to employ the latest innovations to prevent and mitigate cyberthreats. The best result is one where you aren’t aware that an attempt was even made.
Fi-Tek strives to keep our clients safe from cybercrime each and every day. We employ layers of security measures and protocols to prevent unwelcomed access. We also need our client’s diligence as most breaches occur at the user level. The threats will continue but so will our dedication to preventing them. If all goes as planned, you won’t even notice.
Author: James Okamura, CFA, CFP, AWMA
Senior Managing Director
