(Source: https://life.ru/t/новости/143712)

 Russian economy has suffered losses worth around 200 billion rubles because of hackers according to the results of the year 2015. Yet the business associates still have difficulties calculating the total value of damage caused by these attacks.

The total amount of damage brought by the hackers’ attacks is estimated to 0.25% of the Russian GDP. This information is given by the experts of Internet-Initiatives Development Fund, Microsoft and Group-IB. The results were shown in the opening speech of Russian internet forum 2015 by the investment portfolio manager of Internet-Initiatives Development Fund  Sergey Negodyaev.

200 billion rubles is about half of the money invested annually into medicine or over 200% of those that the government has invested in mass media. The leader of research department of Internet-Initiatives Development Fund Margarita Zobnina has compared the number with the expenditures on Research and Development: the damaged caused by cyberattacks is worth about 23% of all the expenditures on Research and Development.

“Cybercrime is a threat not only to the financial state of the country but for the whole innovational movement” - said Zobnina. The research is based on the survey conveyed in 600 different countries 58% of which is small or medium business and 42% - large companies, said Ilya Sachkov, the founder and CEO of Group-IB. The survey was conveyed among companies of different  spheres – finances, telecommunications, retail, industry and others. The survey was filled up by the top managers “of highest possible status”.