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The cybersecurity industry is rapidly growing every day. Even with increased attention on protecting electronic information, there is ample reason for businesses, organizations, and the public to be concerned. More malware is being launched than ever before and Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that businesses will spend more than $1 trillion on cybersecurity between 2017 and 2021.

Cybint News (December 2018) cites the following alarming statistics that shape today’s the cybersecurity landscape:

1. Ninety-five percent of breached records came from only three industries in 2016 - government, retail, and technology. The reason isn’t necessarily because those industries are less diligent in their protection of customer records. They’re just very popular targets because of the high level of personal identifying information contained in their records.
2. There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds. A Clark School study at the University of Maryland is one of the first to quantify the near-constant rate of hacker attacks of computers with Internet access— every 39 seconds on average, affecting one in three Americans every year —and the non-secure usernames and passwords we use that give attackers more chance of success.
3. Forty-three percent of cyber attacks target small business. 64% of companies have experienced web-based attacks. 62% experienced phishing & social engineering attacks. 59% of companies experienced malicious code and botnets and 51% experienced denial of service attacks.
4. The average cost of a data breach in 2020 will exceed $150 million. As more business infrastructure gets connected, Juniper Research data suggests that cybercrime will cost businesses over $2 trillion total in 2019.
5. Since 2013 there are 3,809,448 records stolen from breaches every day. 158,727 per hour, 2,645 per minute and 44 every second of every day reports Cybersecurity Ventures.

6. Over 75% of health care industry has been infected with malware over last year. The SecurityScorecard study examined 700 healthcare organizations including medical treatment facilities, health insurance agencies and healthcare manufacturing companies.
7. More than 300,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are unfilled. Job postings are up 74% over the past five years.
8. By 2020 there will be roughly 200 billion connected devices. According to figures compiled within a recent Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, there are 25 connected devices per 100 inhabitants in the US.
9. Ninety-five percent of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error. Cyber-criminals and hackers will infiltrate your company through your weakest link, which is almost never in the IT department.
10. Only 38% of global organizations claim they are prepared to handle a sophisticated cyber attack. An estimated 54 percent of companies say they have experienced one or more attacks in the last 12 months.

Cybersecurity is now a global priority as cybercrime and digital threats grow in frequency and complexity. However, one of the major obstacles to preventing cybercrime is the cybersecurity workforce shortage and lack of new professionals funneling into this industry. According to the Cybersecurity Jobs Report, there will be approximately 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021, while at the same time incidents of global cybercrimes are expected to climb to 6 trillion annually during that same year.

CyberSeek data shows that there are currently over 11,000 job openings for cyber security professionals in Georgia alone. Currently, the unemployment rate in this industry stands at a mere 0% and is expected to remain there for the next several years. Anyone looking for a stable and successful career may want to consider the cybersecurity and intelligence industry.