Why cyberattacks are becoming a global economic crisis—and how AI is aiding cybercrime
The global cost of cybercrime damages is projected to reach US$10.5 trillion annually in 2025, making it the world's third-largest economy.
With ransomware attacks, phishing, financial fraud, and other forms of cyberwarfare on the rise globally, the true cost of cyberattacks in 2025 can no longer just be calculated in direct theft but also in the ripple effects. It is measured in shuttered businesses, paralyzed operations, regulatory fines, disrupted supply chains, and reputational damage that takes years to rebuild. And the fallout is shaking entire industries.
To grasp the scale, Cybersecurity Ventures projects that global cybercrime damages will reach 10.5 trillion annually by 2025. To put it in perspective, if cybercrime were measured as a nation, it would stand as the world’s third-largest economy, behind only the United States and China. That makes it larger than the economies of Japan, Germany, or India.
Although not everyone agrees on that headline figure. Some analysts argue that the true tally may be closer to $1.2 to $1.5 trillion annually when the scope is narrowed to more direct costs, which is still catastrophic in its own right. However, whether the number stands at 1 or 10 trillion, we're seeing that cybercrime has evolved into a global economic crisis, larger than most nations’ GDPs.
It has become what experts describe as the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, a phenomenon that already eclipses the annual toll of natural disasters and outpaces the profits of the global drug trade combined.
