More than 33 billion records will be stolen by cyber criminals in 2023 alone, according to Juniper, representing an increase of 175 per cent on the 12 billion records expected to be compromised in 2018.

Despite this, Juniper forecasts that cyber security spend will only increase by an average of nine per cent per company per annum, in spite of new legislation mandating strong cyber security and authentication measures.

Spend by small businesses in 2018 will only make up 13 per cent of the overall cyber security market in 2018, despite over 95 per cent of all companies being small businesses. In addition, the cost of breaches can exceed millions of dollars, dwarfing the turnover of such businesses.

Many of these companies use consumer-grade products, spending on average under $500 per year on cybersecurity. Juniper stated that this will leave them vulnerable to newer forms of malware which require more advanced cybersecurity, beyond simple endpoint protection.

“Juniper’s strategic analysis of 48 leading cybersecurity companies shows that AI and predictive analytics are now table stakes for this market,” noted research author James Moar. “These technologies need to be made available to all businesses, regardless of size.”

Additionally, the research found that the US will become a more prominent target over the next five years. Juniper expects over half of all data breaches globally to occur in the US by 2023. This is because the country has so much national and international consumer and corporate data in a disparate range of institutions and regulations; making it easier to find and exploit systemic weaknesses.

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