Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tech & Science

Which US states are most at risk from a cyberattack?

75 percent of U.S. companies face the risk of a significant cyberattack.

Image: – © AFP
Image: – © AFP

Global cybercrime costs are projected to surge from $9.22 trillion in 2024 to $13.82 trillion by 2028, with U.S. losses alone expected to exceed $452 billion in 2024.

In 2023, 75 percent of U.S. companies faced the risk of a significant cyberattack, with reports revealing that critical infrastructure sustained over 420 million attacks—13 per second—between January 2023 and January 2024, marking a 30 percent increase primarily targeting the U.S.

The cybersecurity firm Kiteworks sought to identify the U.S. states where businesses are most at risk of cyberattacks. To gather the data, analysts looked into various factors such as data breaches, crime types, the number of attacks and losses, as well as the number of victims and financial losses. The corporate data breaches data was broken down by state.

US States Most at risk of Cyberattacks

Data from Kiteworks. Table created by Tim Sandle

From the above table, Colorado is most at risk from cyberattacks, with a risk score of 7.96 out of 10. Despite its mid-sized population of 5,877,610, Colorado experienced the highest rate of cyberattacks since 2017 and has reported 10,776 annual victims from 2020.

New York is in second place, with a risk score of 7.84 out of 10. As the fourth most populous state with 19,571,216 residents, New York reported 27,205 annual victims between 2020-2023. By contrast, Massachusetts reported one third the number of victims (8,749) over the same period as New York.

Nevada ranks third with a risk score of 7.62 out of 10, reflecting the state’s growing vulnerability to cyberattacks. With a population of 3,194,176, Nevada reported 10,551 annual victims from 2020 to 2023. The state has experienced a significant 27.6 percent increase in victim counts over four years, indicating a rapid rise in cybercrime incidents.

Avatar photo
Written By

Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

You may also like:

Business

South Korean ministries and police said Thursday they were blocking DeepSeek's access to work computers.

Business

Asian markets rose tracking gains on Wall Street and following the US Postal Service's U-turn on a ban on parcels from China and Hong...

World

As tech companies seek energy sources to meet these demands while maintaining their zero-carbon emission commitments, nuclear power has emerged as a compelling option...

World

M23 called its first public meeting after capturing the eastern city of Goma - Copyright AFP TED ALJIBERwandan-backed M23 called its first public meeting...