There are from more than 90 million cyber security attacks worldwide per year, with close to 400 new threats every minute, and up to 70 per cent of attacks going undetected, a report said.

All companies are being hit: finance & insurance is the most targeted sector, followed by ICT, manufacturing and retail, explained the new report entitled “Thematic Investing: You’ve Been Hacked! – Global Cybersecurity Primer” from Bank of America (BofA) Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Cyber security has become a homeland security threat with rapid growth in attacks against critical infrastructure and manufacturing. Americans worry about falling victim to cyber attacks more than any other type of crime - with 1 billion data records compromised in the US alone in 2014.

“We believe cyber security poses a key threat to the three pillars of creative disruption: the Internet of Things (IoT), the Sharing Economy and Online Services.,” the report said.

The average cost of cybercrimes for US companies reached a record $12.7 million in 2014, with cybercrime costing the global economy up to $575 billion annually. Cyber attacks are the #1 source of economic assaults against governments, and the #1 source of IP theft for corporates.

The rise in disruptive technologies - including IoT with 50 billion+ devices connected to the internet by 2020 - means that we are facing a potential worst-case "Cybergeddon" scenario where the 'bad guy' has the permanent advantage.

Cybercrime extracts up to 20 per cent of the value created by the internet, meaning that as much as $3 trillion of global economic value could be at risk by 2020.

The global cyber security solutions market is estimated at $75-77 billion in 2015 and forecast to reach $170 billion by 2020. Drivers include the increase in the number, sophistication, scope and impact of attacks; IoT creating new security threats; increased spending on cyber security by corporates and governments; and the emergence of regulation.

The report highlights multiple entry points for investors wishing to play the cyber security theme and anticipate fast growth for the likes of analytics, APTs, automated incident response, biometrics, cloud security, cognitive security, consulting, critical infrastructure & homeland security and e-commerce & payments, among others. – TradeArabia News Service