04 Oct Average Age Of A Hacker Arrested For Cybercrime In The U.S. Is 19
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This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sausalito, Calif. – Oct. 4, 2024
“Across the country we’re seeing increasingly sophisticated cybercrime being conducted by people who are younger and younger and younger,” said William McKeen, a supervisory special agent with the FBI’s Cyber Division, at a security conference in San Francisco in May 2024. “It is terrifying.” He said the average age of anyone arrested for a crime in the U.S. is 37, while the average age of someone arrested for cybercrime is 19, The Wall Street Journal reports.
On the flip side, cybercrime victims under the age of 20 years old seemed to be the least-impacted demographic, with about 18,000 victims in this demographic reporting suspected scams or frauds to the FBI’s Internet Complaint Center (or IC3) in 2023.
The average age of cybersecurity specialists is 40+ years years old, representing 60 percent of the cybercrime fighter population, according to career platform Zippia, with 11 percent of them in the 20-30 year old range.
Cybersecurity Ventures estimates there are around 3.5 million unfilled Cybersecurity jobs globally in 2024, and that figure will remain steady in 2025. Hopefully more young people will choose this vocation over cybercrime.
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