You can tell when a market is heating up by the projections of analysts and forecasts by market report writers. That is certainly the case when it comes to the cyber security market. Some research suggests that the 2012 global market for cybersecurity products and services ranges between a pessimistic view of about $55 billion USD and an optimistic view of nearly $70 billion USD with an average annual increase of $5 billion USD. With 26 million new strains of malware identified in 2011 it is easy to justify this level of security product and service sales.

Another aspect of the money flow into cyber crime is the true impact it has on organizations that are targeted. A study by security firm ArcSight, an HP company, found that the median annualized cost of cyber crime for the organizations in the study is $5.9 million per year, with a range of $1.5 million to $36.5 million each year per company.

These threat estimates were all made prior to FLAME and the disclosure about Olympic Game and DARPA’s Project X were able to influence the market. It is almost a sure bet that cyber attacks will increase due to the widespread knowledge about these U.S. actions. Traditional criminals are not the only ones behind these attacks. When al Qaeda’s Chief Cyber Terrorist was taken down in London a few years ago, authorities found the data of tens of thousands credit cards in his possession. He was using these cards to fund his operations.

That clearly illustrates why we all need to work on significantly reducing the money flow from cyber attacks and that requires investment into cybersecurity.