Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has critical implications for the global economy, requiring a deeper understanding of its role in growth and economic resilience. But how do we move beyond viewing cybersecurity merely as a cost center to recognizing its value as a strategic investment with the potential to drive macroeconomic growth, competitiveness, and trust?
This was the central question posed during a Centre for Cyber Economics (CCE) panel on ‘Securing Prosperity: The Uncalculated Cost of Insecurity’, held during Singapore International Cyber Week 2025.
The discussion brought together Marc Henauer, Senior Political and International Affairs Officer, Swiss National Cyber Security Centre; Neal Jetton, Director of Cybercrime at INTERPOL; Rigo Van den Broeck, Executive VP of Cybersecurity at Mastercard; and John Defterios, Senior Advisor at APCO, former CNN Editor and Anchor, and member of the CCE Executive Committee. Together, the panel highlighted key obstacles to more informed decision-making on cyber investment – primarily a lack of standardized, reliable data on cyber incidents and robust models for long-term value creation.
Data blind spots
The economic toll of cyber threats is projected to reach $10 trillion in 2025 and $23 trillion by 2027. However, INTERPOL’s Neal Jetton questioned the full extent of these costs: "If cybercrime is only reported 15% of the time...what is the true global loss?”
“When you go out to find the data on cybercrime, for example, you don't find a lot. You don't see global trends or like-for-like information,” observed John Defterios.
Mastercard's Rigo Van den Broeck emphasized that current data often reflects only direct costs, missing the indirect costs and ripple effects that significantly impact consumer behavior and trust in businesses. Speakers agreed that data transparency is crucial for effectively addressing the fast-evolving cybercrime landscape.
Marc Henauer underscored the systemic nature of cyber risk: “We are in an inherently global interdependent system here. That means the weakest link…. can be the best and most perfectly defended island on the planet.”
The need for standardized data
Research by the World Bank indicates that mitigating cyber risks can help developing countries boost their GDP by 1.5%. However, harnessing these opportunities is difficult without a standard approach to quantifying risk.
“Measuring cyber risk has two components. The likelihood of an event happening…combined with the impact of an attack. Both of these need guidelines and standards to make sure people measure the same thing," noted Van der Broeck.
Standardized data would enable policymakers, regulators, and investors to compare risk and resilience across sectors and economies – and help bridge cyber capacity gaps between nations. Research shows a significant spending gap, with developing economies spending $1 per capita or less on cybersecurity compared to $30 in developed economies.
For Henauer, the challenge is not strictly a lack of data but also how it’s used to unlock the economic benefits of cybersecurity. “[The information] is not yet used to connect the dots and establish economic models that in the end help us rationalize investments in cybersecurity ... and make the point that this is not just cost that you incur,” he said.
CCE’s role in strengthening collaboration
Growing interdependencies across the global economy require strong cross-sector collaboration as cyber threats grow. Van den Broeck stated that sharing information about cybercrime helps nations and societies better understand true cost and avoid repeated failures: “The reason [we] joined the Centre for Cyber Economics is simple. We think that helping to get the data right is the foundational need for us to help society prosper.”
Jetton emphasized the growing need for cooperation between law enforcement, cybersecurity agencies, and the private sector to improve information sharing and reporting.
Fostering such cooperation lies at the heart of the Centre for Cyber Economics (CCE), a collaboration between GCF and the World Economic Forum, which advances research and knowledge-sharing on the economic dimensions of cybersecurity. CCE’s work focuses on areas of critical global importance that link cybersecurity not only to national security but also to economic prosperity and global competitiveness.
As Alaa Alfaadhel, Managing Director of CCE, said in the opening keynote, “Our ambition for CCE is to become a trusted global platform that focuses on advancing concrete understanding of the priority actions, as well as the economic consequences of inaction, in order to safeguard growth, unlock new opportunities, and reveal new pathways to collaboration toward a safe, resilient future for global economies.”
The conversation in Singapore reaffirmed a simple truth: the ability to measure cybersecurity’s impact is the first step toward turning security from a reactive cost into a proactive driver of prosperity. By closing the global data gap, we can begin to quantify the true cost and economic potential - and invest accordingly.
Watch the full session video.
This was the central question posed during a Centre for Cyber Economics (CCE) panel on ‘Securing Prosperity: The Uncalculated Cost of Insecurity’, held during Singapore International Cyber Week 2025.
The discussion brought together Marc Henauer, Senior Political and International Affairs Officer, Swiss National Cyber Security Centre; Neal Jetton, Director of Cybercrime at INTERPOL; Rigo Van den Broeck, Executive VP of Cybersecurity at Mastercard; and John Defterios, Senior Advisor at APCO, former CNN Editor and Anchor, and member of the CCE Executive Committee. Together, the panel highlighted key obstacles to more informed decision-making on cyber investment – primarily a lack of standardized, reliable data on cyber incidents and robust models for long-term value creation.
Data blind spots
The economic toll of cyber threats is projected to reach $10 trillion in 2025 and $23 trillion by 2027. However, INTERPOL’s Neal Jetton questioned the full extent of these costs: "If cybercrime is only reported 15% of the time...what is the true global loss?”
“When you go out to find the data on cybercrime, for example, you don't find a lot. You don't see global trends or like-for-like information,” observed John Defterios.
Mastercard's Rigo Van den Broeck emphasized that current data often reflects only direct costs, missing the indirect costs and ripple effects that significantly impact consumer behavior and trust in businesses. Speakers agreed that data transparency is crucial for effectively addressing the fast-evolving cybercrime landscape.
Marc Henauer underscored the systemic nature of cyber risk: “We are in an inherently global interdependent system here. That means the weakest link…. can be the best and most perfectly defended island on the planet.”
The need for standardized data
Research by the World Bank indicates that mitigating cyber risks can help developing countries boost their GDP by 1.5%. However, harnessing these opportunities is difficult without a standard approach to quantifying risk.
“Measuring cyber risk has two components. The likelihood of an event happening…combined with the impact of an attack. Both of these need guidelines and standards to make sure people measure the same thing," noted Van der Broeck.
Standardized data would enable policymakers, regulators, and investors to compare risk and resilience across sectors and economies – and help bridge cyber capacity gaps between nations. Research shows a significant spending gap, with developing economies spending $1 per capita or less on cybersecurity compared to $30 in developed economies.
For Henauer, the challenge is not strictly a lack of data but also how it’s used to unlock the economic benefits of cybersecurity. “[The information] is not yet used to connect the dots and establish economic models that in the end help us rationalize investments in cybersecurity ... and make the point that this is not just cost that you incur,” he said.
CCE’s role in strengthening collaboration
Growing interdependencies across the global economy require strong cross-sector collaboration as cyber threats grow. Van den Broeck stated that sharing information about cybercrime helps nations and societies better understand true cost and avoid repeated failures: “The reason [we] joined the Centre for Cyber Economics is simple. We think that helping to get the data right is the foundational need for us to help society prosper.”
Jetton emphasized the growing need for cooperation between law enforcement, cybersecurity agencies, and the private sector to improve information sharing and reporting.
Fostering such cooperation lies at the heart of the Centre for Cyber Economics (CCE), a collaboration between GCF and the World Economic Forum, which advances research and knowledge-sharing on the economic dimensions of cybersecurity. CCE’s work focuses on areas of critical global importance that link cybersecurity not only to national security but also to economic prosperity and global competitiveness.
As Alaa Alfaadhel, Managing Director of CCE, said in the opening keynote, “Our ambition for CCE is to become a trusted global platform that focuses on advancing concrete understanding of the priority actions, as well as the economic consequences of inaction, in order to safeguard growth, unlock new opportunities, and reveal new pathways to collaboration toward a safe, resilient future for global economies.”
The conversation in Singapore reaffirmed a simple truth: the ability to measure cybersecurity’s impact is the first step toward turning security from a reactive cost into a proactive driver of prosperity. By closing the global data gap, we can begin to quantify the true cost and economic potential - and invest accordingly.
Watch the full session video.