Data breaches will cost the world economy more than $2tn (£1.3bn) by 2019 as hackers continue to exploit traditional IT infrastructure, according to a study by Juniper Research.
The findings come despite warnings over the use of smartphones at work and the potential risks of the Internet of Things (IoT), with the company believing that such attacks will not be as profitable as the old kind.
James Moar, research analyst at Juniper, said: "Currently, we aren’t seeing much dangerous mobile or IoT malware because it’s not profitable.
"The kind of threats we will see on these devices will be either ransomware, with consumers’ devices locked down until they pay the hackers to use their devices, or as part of botnets, where processing power is harnessed as part of a more lucrative hack.
"With the absence of a direct payout from IoT hacks, there is little motive for criminals to develop the required tools."
Despite this the company did predict that the average cost to business of a data breach will exceed $150m (£100m) by 2020 as more business infrastructure is connected.
It is also thought that hacktivism of the sort carried out by the likes of Anonymous will decline in volume even if the attacks that are successful do more damage, whilst genuine cybercriminals continue to become more professional and organised.
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Though North America will be hit by 60% of cyberattacks this year, according to Juniper, the proportion of strikes against the continent is projected to fall as other countries become richer and invest in more computing.
