What does economics have to do with cybersecurity?

Economics has a major connection to cybersecurity because both businesses and attackers make decisions based on cost, risk, and potential reward. For a business, spending money on cybersecurity is really a form of risk management. Companies have to decide how much to invest in things like employee training, backups, monitoring, and security tools compared with how much a cyberattack could cost them.

The financial impact of a breach can go far beyond fixing a computer system. IBM reported that the global average cost of a data breach was about $4.99 million in 2026. Businesses can also lose money because of downtime, legal expenses, regulatory penalties, and customers losing trust in the company. On a larger scale, cybercrime affects the economy as a whole. The FBI reported more than $20 billion in losses from internet crime complaints in 2025.

Economics can also help explain why cybercriminals choose certain targets. Attackers are more likely to go after organizations when the possible payoff is high and the risk of getting caught is low. Strong cybersecurity can make an attack more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. To me, that shows cybersecurity is not only a technical issue. It is also about how organizations use limited resources to reduce financial risk.

References

Cryptocurrency and AI scams bilk americans of billions. (2026, April 6). Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/cryptocurrency-and-ai-scams-bilk-americans-of-billionsLinks to an external site.

Cost of a data breach report 2026 the AI tipping point. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2026, from Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026Links to an external site.