Cybercrime is no longer just a corporate problem. It hits small businesses, hospitals, and everyday people. In 2024, reported US internet crime losses exceeded $16 billion across 859,532 complaints — a 33% jump year over year (FBI IC3). Globally, cybercrime is on track to cost $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Meanwhile, the industry has a workforce gap of 4.8 million unfilled jobs worldwide. Whether you run a business, manage IT, or are considering a career change — this article is your starting point.
How Bad Is the Cyber Threat in 2025? The Data Tells a Clear Story
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) releases an annual report on reported cybercrime across the United States. Their 2024 edition captures both the scale and the pace of the problem.
- 859,532 complaints filed in 2024 alone
- $16 billion+ in total reported losses — up 33% from 2023
- $6.5 billion lost to investment fraud, mostly cryptocurrency scams
- Top complaint types: phishing and spoofing, extortion, personal data breaches
These are only the reported losses. Many incidents go unreported. The actual figure is likely far higher.
Source: FBI IC3 2024 Annual Report. Figures are illustrative proportions based on reported complaint categories.
Texas: A State Under Pressure
Texas ranked second in the entire country for number of complaints filed with the FBI in 2024. Losses in the state reached approximately $1.35 billion (FBI IC3, 2024). That figure matters for businesses operating in Texas, for policy discussions, and for cybersecurity professionals building regional careers.
Source: FBI IC3 2024 Annual Report.
Canada Is Facing the Same Threat Forces
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security published its National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–2026. It describes a threat environment driven by two dominant forces: state-sponsored actors and financially motivated criminal groups.
- Ransomware remains the most disruptive threat to Canadian organisations
- State actors from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are actively targeting critical infrastructure
- Small and medium-sized businesses face elevated risk due to weaker defences
- Healthcare, energy, and financial sectors sit at the highest exposure
How Does the US Compare to Canada? A Snapshot
| Factor | United States | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| Primary threat source | Financially motivated criminals | State-sponsored + financially motivated |
| Top attack type | Phishing, BEC, investment fraud | Ransomware, infrastructure attacks |
| Reported losses (2024) | $16 billion+ | Figures not publicly aggregated at same scale |
| Women in cybersecurity workforce | 19.2% (ISC2 / LinkedIn 2024) | 21.2% (ISC2 / LinkedIn 2024) |
| Key regulatory framework | NIST CSF, CISA guidance, state laws | PIPEDA, Bill C-26 (proposed) |
| Primary source | FBI IC3 Annual Report 2024 | Canadian National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–26 |
What Does a Breach Actually Cost? The Numbers Are Harder to Ignore Each Year
The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report is the benchmark study for breach cost data. Their 2024 and 2025 editions tell a consistent story: breaches are expensive, the US pays the most, and the bill keeps climbing.
| Year | Global Average Cost | US Average Cost | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $4.45M | $9.48M | — |
| 2024 | $4.88M | Higher than global avg | +9.7% globally |
| 2025 | $4.44M | ~$10.22M | US cost up significantly |
Sources: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024; DataFence Data Breach Report 2025
The US figure in 2025 is striking. At over $10 million per breach on average, a single incident can destabilise a mid-sized business. For smaller organisations, the consequences can be permanent.
Source: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024.
Who Works in Cybersecurity? The Demographics
Understanding who is currently in the cybersecurity workforce matters. It explains where the talent gap is, who is entering the field, who is being left out, and where career opportunities are largest.
Gender Breakdown: A Field Still Dominated by Men
The 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study surveyed 15,852 cybersecurity practitioners globally. The gender picture is clear: women remain a significant minority.
Source: ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024. LinkedIn data aligns closely with these figures across 14 countries.
The global average sits at 22% women across cybersecurity teams (ISC2, 2024). However, there are notable regional differences.
| Country / Region | Women in Cybersecurity Workforce | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 26.7% (highest) | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
| Singapore | 26.2% | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
| Canada | 21.2% | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
| United States | 19.2% | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
| United Kingdom | 17.9% | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
| Germany | 14.6% (lowest) | LinkedIn / ISC2 2024 |
The trend is moving in the right direction, but slowly. Among respondents under 30, women account for 26% of the cybersecurity workforce, compared to only 13% among those aged 65 or older. Younger generations are shifting the balance, but the overall pace of change remains gradual.
Age and Entry Points: Who Is Joining the Field?
The cybersecurity workforce is not a young person’s game by default. New entrants to the field continue to trend older, with the 39 to 49 age group being the most common entry cohort. This reflects a common pattern: people transition into cybersecurity from related IT roles mid-career rather than entering straight from university.
Education and Certification Pathways
A degree is not the only road in. While IT is the traditional path into cybersecurity, more and more entrants are coming from different backgrounds and verticals. Professionals found these diverse pathways equally conducive to success.
Certifications play a major role regardless of background:
| Certification Data Point | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Professionals who value their certifications | 86% | ISC2, 2024 |
| Found certifications valuable before first job | 90% | ISC2, 2024 |
| Say certifications best prove skills | 65% | ISC2, 2024 |
| Women holding advanced degrees (Master’s/Doctorate) | Higher rate than men | ISC2 Women in Cybersecurity, 2024 |
Job Satisfaction: Higher Than You Might Expect
Despite workload pressures and a challenging threat environment, most cybersecurity professionals report satisfaction with their roles. 67% of women respondents were satisfied in their cybersecurity role, compared to 66% of men. These figures have declined from highs of 82% for women and 73% for men in 2022.
Source: ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024.
Is There Really a Talent Shortage? Yes, and It Is Getting Worse
The global cybersecurity workforce currently stands at 5.5 million professionals. That sounds large. But demand is outpacing supply by a wide margin.
Source: ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024. Total workforce needed to satisfy demand globally: 10.2 million.
| Workforce Metric | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active global workforce | 5.49M | 5.5M | +0.1% (stalled) |
| Global workforce gap | ~4M | 4.8M | +19% YoY |
| Total workforce needed | ~9.5M | 10.2M | +8% |
| Organisations reporting staff shortage | 67% | 67% | No improvement |
| Staff shortage seen as significant risk | — | 58% | — |
Source: ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2024
The profession needs to grow by almost 75% to fully close the gap (ISC2). That means there is extraordinary opportunity for people entering the field right now.
What Do Cybersecurity Jobs Pay?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics published its latest occupational data for Information Security Analysts in May 2024.
There is also a gender pay gap to acknowledge. The average global salary of women participants in the ISC2 study was $109,609 compared to $115,003 for men, a difference of $5,400. The gap exists across most regions and is an active area of focus for diversity initiatives in the sector.
In-Demand Roles Right Now
Organisations consistently struggle to hire in specific areas. These are the roles with the sharpest shortfalls:
| Role / Specialism | Demand Level | Avg US Salary Range |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Security Engineer | Very High | $130K–$175K |
| SOC Analyst (Tier 2/3) | Very High | $85K–$120K |
| Penetration Tester | High | $95K–$145K |
| Threat Intelligence Analyst | High | $90K–$135K |
| GRC Analyst | High | $80K–$120K |
| CISO / Security Director | High | $180K–$280K+ |
What Must Organisations Do Right Now?
There is no single fix for cybersecurity risk. But a structured approach covers the ground that matters most. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework provides a useful foundation for organisations of any size.
Identify
Know every asset, every system, and every dataset you hold. You cannot protect what you cannot see.
Protect
Apply access controls, patch management, and employee training. Most breaches exploit known gaps.
Detect
Deploy monitoring and SIEM tools. The faster you detect, the lower your breach cost.
Respond
Have a written incident response plan. Test it quarterly. Most teams only discover gaps during a real event.
Recover
Backup your data offsite. Confirm your backups actually work. Plan for continuity, not just recovery.
The Small Business Playbook: Practical, Low-Cost Actions
Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly the target of choice. They have valuable data, but fewer defences. These are the moves that cost the least and protect the most.
| Action | Cost | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts | Free | Blocks 99%+ of credential attacks |
| Train staff on phishing recognition (annual) | Low | Reduces phishing success rate significantly |
| Apply all software patches within 72 hours | Free | Closes the most exploited entry points |
| Set up automated, offsite backups (3-2-1 rule) | Low / Medium | Neutralises most ransomware leverage |
| Write a one-page incident response plan | Free | Reduces chaos and recovery time dramatically |
| Conduct a tabletop exercise with your team (annually) | Free | Reveals gaps before an attacker does |
How Do US and Canadian Regulations Compare?
Regulation is accelerating in both countries. Understanding the differences matters for organisations operating across borders.
| Area | United States | Canada |
|---|---|---|
| Primary federal framework | NIST CSF, CISA Directives | PIPEDA (federal privacy law) |
| Proposed new legislation | Various state-level laws (CA, NY, TX) | Bill C-26 — new cyber security act |
| Breach notification requirement | State-by-state (varies) | Mandatory under PIPEDA (72-hour goal) |
| Critical infrastructure oversight | CISA leads federal coordination | Canadian Centre for Cyber Security |
| Healthcare compliance | HIPAA (strict, well-established) | Provincial health privacy laws vary |
How Does a Breach Actually Affect Customers, Staff, and Investors?
The financial cost of a breach is only one dimension. The reputational and human cost can outlast the balance sheet damage by years.
- Customers lose trust rapidly after a breach involving personal data. Studies consistently show that a significant portion of affected customers switch providers within three months.
- Staff face increased workload, burnout, and scrutiny during and after an incident. Over two thirds of cybersecurity professionals report some form of shortage of cybersecurity professionals in their organisation, and 58% say such shortages put their organisation at significant risk.
- Investors react to material breaches with stock price declines, sometimes lasting 6 to 12 months beyond the incident date.
- Legal exposure rises post-breach, including class actions, regulatory fines, and contractual penalties with enterprise clients.
Conclusion: Cybersecurity Is No Longer Optional
The data in this article tells a single, consistent story: cybersecurity is one of the most critical challenges of our time. The threats are growing faster than defences can keep up, the costs of failure are climbing year over year, and the gap between the professionals we have and the professionals we need keeps widening.
But this is not just a problem — it is also an opportunity. Every organisation that takes security seriously reduces its own risk and strengthens the broader digital ecosystem everyone depends on. Every professional who enters the field helps close a gap that genuinely matters. And every business leader who invests in preparedness today is protecting their customers, their staff, and their future.
Metana’s cybersecurity bootcamps are built to take you from where you are now to job-ready, with hands-on training, expert mentorship, and a curriculum built around what employers are actually hiring for.Explore our bootcamps now.
.Frequently Asked Questions
Cybercrime is projected to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, based on aggregated industry In February 2026, Cybersecurity Ventures estimates the global annual cost of cybercrime at $10.8 trillion USD. This figure includes direct losses, productivity impacts, recovery, and other damages, ranking it as the world’s third-largest “economy” behind the US and China. Growth has slowed to about 2.5% yearly from prior highs.
Globally, women account for approximately 22% of the cybersecurity workforce, according to the 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study and supporting LinkedIn data. The US figure is 19.2%, while Canada sits slightly higher at 21.2%. Among workers under 30, the proportion rises to 26%, suggesting the balance is slowly improving with younger cohorts. By 2025, research predicts women will represent 30% of the global cybersecurity workforce.
The global cybersecurity workforce gap reached 4.8 million unfilled positions in 2024, a 19% increase from the prior year, according to the ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study. The active workforce sits at 5.5 million, but the total demand is estimated at 10.2 million. That means the profession needs to grow by nearly 75% just to meet current needs.
According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report and DataFence’s 2025 analysis, the average cost of a data breach in the United States reached approximately $10.22 million in 2025, making it consistently one of the most expensive regions globally. The global average sits lower, at around $4.44 million. Healthcare remains the most expensive sector, with average breach costs approaching $9.77 million per incident.
Yes. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 29% employment growth for Information Security Analysts between 2024 and 2034, far above the national average of 4% for all occupations. The median annual wage is $124,910. The workforce gap of 4.8 million globally means that well-trained candidates have strong leverage across salary, location, and role type. Entry pathways have also diversified: certifications, bootcamps, and non-traditional backgrounds are all increasingly valued by employers.
Sources & References
- Federal Bureau of Investigation — IC3 2024 Annual Internet Crime Report (PDF)
- IBM Security — Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024
- DataFence / IBM — Data Breach Report 2025
- Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–2026
- ISC2 — 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study
- ISC2 — Women in Cybersecurity 2024/2025
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Information Security Analysts Occupational Outlook
- Cobalt.io — Top Cybersecurity Statistics 2025
- Kirkham IronTech — IBM Data Breach Costs 2025 Summary
