Americans lost nearly $21 billion to cybercrime in 2025, according to a new analysis published by War on the Rocks and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. That figure marks a record high for cyber-enabled economic losses. The report, part of a series on integrating economic statecraft into national security strategy, notes that private sector losses to malicious cyber activity regularly exceed $200 billion annually.
Criminal groups are not the only threat. State-sponsored hackers are increasingly directing their efforts at America's financial infrastructure, blurring the line between criminal enterprise and geopolitical warfare. The convergence of economic and cyber domains demands a more aggressive stance from policymakers, the authors argue.
The findings arrive amid a broader debate about how the United States should organize its economic statecraft to counter such threats. The current approach fragments responsibility across multiple agencies, creating gaps that adversaries exploit. Integrating cyber defense into economic diplomacy is presented as a necessary step.
Allied nations face similar challenges, though most have not yet centralized their response. The report suggests that without a unified strategy, the United States risks falling behind in protecting its economic base from both theft and strategic disruption.
Critics caution that the $21 billion figure may understate the true scale of losses, as many incidents go unreported by private firms fearing reputational damage. The report itself acknowledges these reporting gaps, adding a layer of uncertainty to the assessment.