The global economy spends approximately $445 billion every year on cyber crime, with the damage to business from the theft of intellectual property exceeding the $160 billion loss to individuals from hacking, according to a report published this week.
The report, released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), claims cyber crime was a "growth industry that damaged trade, competitiveness and innovation," according to Reuters.
The study says that a conservative estimate would be approximately $375 billion to $575 billion in losses.
"Cyber crime is a tax on innovation and slows the pace of global innovation by reducing the rate of return to innovators and investors," Jim Lewis of CSIS said in a statement, according to Reuters. "For developed countries, cyber crime has serious implications for employment."
Losses connected to personal data, like stolen credit card information, was put at around $150 billion.
The toll on the United States, China, Germany, and Japan reach close to $200 billion a year in losses.
Approximately 40 million people in the U.S. has had persona information stole by hackers, according to the study.
High-profile breaches affected 54 million people in Turkey, 20 million people in China, and 16 million people in Germany, according to Reuters.
The study was sponsored by security software company McAfee.
McAfee, which is owned by Intel Corp., said improved international collaboration was beginning to show results in reducing cyber crime. For example, a takedown last week of a crime ring that infected hundreds of thousands of computers known by the name of its software Gameover Zeus, according to Reuters.
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