A newly released study by global information protection expert Symantec Corp. delves into the problem of cyber security and suggests that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

The increase in mega breaches, aggressive ransomware, mobile technology threats and hackers’ discovery of the Internet of Things in 2013 all point to the continuing rapid growth of cyber crime.

The Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) is an annual study based on findings from Symantec’s global intelligence network of 41.5 million attack sensors, monitoring threat activity in more than 157 countries and territories. Over the past two decades, Symantec, probably best known for its Norton consumer security product, has identified more than 60,000 recorded vulnerabilities from more than 19,000 vendors.

The report states that 2013 was a watershed year for cyber security, with a lot of attention focused on cyber-espionage, privacy threats and the acts of malicious insiders. But with last December’s big Target breach and other security hacks, the message was clear: cybercriminals who are simply in it for the money are still out there, and growing. And social media carelessness, the growth of mobile devices, and the burgeoning universe of the Internet of Things (smart cars, refrigerators, medical devices and more) is giving cyber criminals an even bigger playground.
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