From banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to e-commerce giants, logistics and even the news media, hackers and data thieves are hitting industries hard. In 2021, 300 million customer records, a 17.6 million row database and 59 million email addresses were stolen – and this was the haul from just three companies. 

Forecasts suggest that by 2025, cybercrime will rack up a toll of US$10.5 trillion annually. This estimate stems from a loss of data, theft of intellectual property, disruption to business operations and many other tangible and hidden costs of cybercrime. 

Meanwhile, governments and industries are scrambling to shore up their defences against the increasingly sophisticated attacks with anti-spoofing measures and tighter data handling rules. But with many companies holding vast amounts of data and failing to be transparent about how the information is handled, the future looks uncertain as data privacy concerns grow. 

 How can industries develop best practices in data security to meet the threat of 21st century cybercriminals?