According to some of the latest cyber crime articles, almost 600,000 Facebook accounts around the world were compromised every day in 2012. In that same year, nearly 1.5 million people were victims of cyber crime. That comes out to about 18 people every second.

But social media is far from the only target. Hackers and cyber thieves compromise the online security of thousands of businesses every month, sometimes with the intent to steal, but sometimes only with the intent to cause mischief. The problem arises when the mischief-makers inadvertently show the real criminals a way past the firewalls and anti-virus programs and other security measures. Like someone who breaks into your home just to prove they could, and doesn’t steal anything, but who then leaves the door wide open as they leave.

Even the highest levels of governmental websites and online activity are targets, sometimes because of their supposed security. The race to stay safe online is a continuous back-and-forth of infraction, countermeasures, infraction. And with every step, both sides get smarter.

Cyber crime technology is one of those rare areas of life where the government and the private sector come together to combat a common enemy. Cyber threats affect privately-held companies and individual citizens every bit as much as they affect national infrastructures and institutions. The result has been a marked improvement in security software, and while the average cost of each attack has gone up, the overall trend of cyber crime is slowly falling.

Mobile technology has opened up new doors in cyber crime technology. As an increasing number of people use their smartphones and tablets for both work and play, cyber attacks on mobile devices are able to perform double-duty, hacking into both personal information and any company information stored on the device. Almost 40% of users worldwide experienced some kind of cyber attack in 2013. So even as some battles are won, the war rages on.