World’s Richest Could Only Cover 22% Of 2022’s Cybercrime Costs

If the world’s richest ten people combined their net worth, they’d still be $4.7 trillion short of the annual predicted cost of cybercrime this year alone, covering just 22% of the annual damages. By 2025, if their net worth stayed the same, that percentage would fall to just 13%.

Research by IT support experts, ramsac, has uncovered that none of the top 10 richest people worldwide could cover the cost of worldwide cybercrime damage.

Elon Musk, who currently holds the highest net worth, estimated at $229.4 billion dollars, could only cover the cost of 3.82% of this year’s estimated damages.

The Costs of Cybercrime

Forecasts from Cybersecurity Ventures estimate the cost of cybercrime, which includes damage and destruction of data, lost productivity, restoration of hacked systems and reputational harm, to reach $6 trillion in 2022, soaring to an astounding $10.5 trillion by 2025.

In 2021, four in ten UK businesses suffered a cybersecurity breach or attack, with one in five going on to lose money, data or other assets as a result. The average cost of a data breach in 2021 in the US was $9.05 million dollars, the UK at $4.67 million dollars and averaging globally at $4.24 million dollars. Cybercrime damage costs can devastate a business.

The costs to businesses every year is substantial, and not just in the immediate with loss of business resources, but also in the long term with reputation management, data recovery, and increased measures of cybersecurity. Cybercrime can range from a phishing email to larger ransomware breaches, all of which cost businesses precious time to investigate, and leaves people’s data at risk.

Covering the Costs

Every year, cybercrime devastates companies and individuals, exposing passwords, putting them at risk of identity theft and further breaches. Looking to the future, as the amount and value of data increases, as well as the technology available to us, the cost of cybercrime damages increases.

While some of the world’s richest have wealth the rest of the world cannot even fathom, when you place their net worth against the annual predicted costs of cybercrime damage, it’s a mere drop in the ocean.

How much are the world’s richest people worth?

1. Elon Musk – Founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla:
   1. Worth $229.4bn
   2. Equal to 3.82% of global cybercrime cost

2. Jeff Bezos – Chairman and Founder of Amazon:
   1. Worth $173.8bn
   2. Equal to 2.90% of global cybercrime cost

3. Bernard Arnault – Chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton:
   1. Worth $161.3bn
   2. Equal to 2.69% of global cybercrime cost

4. Bill Gates – Co-founder of Microsoft and Founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
   1. Worth $131.1bn
   2. Equal to 2.19% of global cybercrime cost

5. Warren Buffet – CEO of Berkshire Hathaway:
   1. Worth $118.3bn
   2. Equal to 1.97% of global cybercrime cost

6. Larry Page – Co-founder and Board Member of Alphabet:
   1. Worth $113.9bn
   2. Equal to 1.90% of global cybercrime cost

7. Sergey Brin – Co-founder and Board Member of Alphabet:
   1. Worth $109.8bn
   2. Equal to 1.83% of global cybercrime cost

8. Larry Ellison – Co-Founder and CTO of Oracle:
   1. Worth $106.7bn
   2. Equal to 1.78% of global cybercrime cost

9. Steve Ballmer – Ex-CEO of Microsoft and owner of Los Angeles Clippers:
   1. Worth $95.6bn
   2. Equal to 1.59% of global cybercrime cost

10. Gautam Adani – Chairman and Founder of the Adani Group:
    1. Worth $90.5bn
    2. Equal to 1.51% of global cybercrime cost