Cisco's Annual Internet Report Predicts 5.7B Netizens by 2023

In Cisco's Annual Internet Report released yesterday, the tech company predicted more networking. The good kind. By 2023, Cisco expects...

More netizens: 5.7 billion people—over 70% of the global population—will have a mobile connection.
And devices: The world will have almost 30 billion devices/connections.
And Gs: 5G networks will support more than 10% of global mobile connections. Averaging 575 megabits/second, 5G speeds will be ~13x faster than today's mobile connections.

On the flipside

More attacks: As internet users, devices, connections, and network demand grow, so will cyberattacks. Cisco predicts the number of Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks will double to 15.4 million by 2023.

• "More work is needed to improve the security of the 'things' being connected up," Jeff Campbell, Cisco's VP of Government Affairs, told me.

Bottom line: Global connectivity is like a glass house. The bigger you make it, the easier it gets for someone to throw a piece of ransomware through your window.