Estimates of Global Hacking Damage Called Into Question

July 22, 2013 by Joseph Menn

A $1 trillion estimate of the global cost of hacking cited by President Barack Obama and other top officials is a gross exaggeration, according to a new study commissioned by the company responsible for the earlier approximation.

A preliminary report being released Monday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and underwritten by Intel Corp.’s security software arm McAfee implicitly acknowledges that McAfee’s previous figure could be triple the real number.