CCRC Forecasts Cybercrime Losses of USD 12 Trillion in 2025

The Computer Crime Research Center (CCRC) recently published a report forecasting that cybercrime losses would reach USD 12 trillion in 2025, exceeding Cybersecurity Ventures’ earlier estimate of USD 10.5 trillion. These figures are forecasts reported in the original October 2024 article, not a measurement of actual 2025 losses.

Cyberattacks are expected to keep increasing

Citing cybersecurity research by Check Point and Orange Cyberdefense, the CCRC report said that cyberattacks and ransomware had continued to increase over the preceding year. It linked the anticipated rise in losses to AI-enabled attacks and reported a 910% monthly increase in registrations of domains related to ChatGPT, including both benign and malicious domains. Attempts to impersonate ChatGPT were a particular concern.

CCRC also expected cyberextortion and hacktivism to remain widespread in 2024. It forecast a 30–50% increase in cyberextortion cases, with enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, and government agencies especially exposed. South Asia, Oceania and Africa were identified as vulnerable regions, alongside manufacturing, retail, professional services, finance and utilities.

Although business leaders were increasingly aware of cyber threats, CCRC emphasized the need for more attention to cybersecurity risk management. Enterprises can take the following measures:

• Establish a comprehensive data protection policy covering access rights, transmission, storage, backups and recovery.
• Install antivirus protection to scan files entering the internal network and filter malicious code.
• Deploy firewalls to restrict unauthorized external access to internal networks and systems.
• Assign explicit data access permissions to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• Deploy SSL certificates to enable HTTPS and help protect transmitted data against interception and tampering.
• Use S/MIME email security certificates for email encryption and signing, helping protect confidentiality and detect message tampering or sender impersonation. S/MIME does not prevent every form of phishing.
• Use code signing certificates to verify software publisher identity and detect changes to signed code. Signing does not itself prevent code theft or make software free of malware.
• Provide regular data security training to improve employees’ awareness and handling practices.

The continuing stream of cybersecurity incidents is a reminder that enterprises need layered network and data protection to reduce their exposure to attacks.

About Racent

Shanghai Ruicheng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Racent) is a cloud resource distributor and cloud security service provider in China. Its data security portfolio includes SSL certificates, code signing certificates and email security certificates, supporting enterprise network protection. For questions or assistance, please contact us.