On the grand timeline of mankind, revolutionary innovations can be found throughout each century. The Internet, although relatively new by comparison, is undoubtedly deserving of being considered among such achievements. It has become the backbone to the 21^st century infrastructure, allowing instant communication across the globe and the ability to store nearly infinite amounts of data. With each passing day, society finds itself increasingly dependent on the worldwide web. People’s lives are chronicled there, from pictures of cherished memories to sensitive information such as bank accounts. Corporations rely on their computer networks for communications, research and development, and collecting and processing consumer information. But as the Internet becomes further embedded in all of our lives, it is also increasingly becoming one of the greatest threats to our national security.

Cases of cybercrimes are multiplying exponentially each year. New research from market analyst Juniper Research details that the more we embrace the Internet — and the more consumer information is digitized — the more likely companies will suffer a data breach. The company projects that by 2019, the cost of data breaches will increase to $2.1 trillion globally. That is four times the estimated costs of breaches in 2015.