Commercial real estate, which encompasses developments like hotels, banks and office buildings, is said to be especially vulnerable to cyberattacks. 

Global tensions and the increased use of automation heighten the hacking risk for access controls of systems such as card readers, elevators and air-conditioners.

Tara Anderson said this makes the commercial risks both digital and physical. Anderson is a managing partner at a cybersecurity consulting firm.

“If you were to take down the actual, physical infrastructure, that takes down the digital infrastructure — payments, financials, business authorizations, but it also provides a physical risk to humans,” Anderson said.

In 2021, the FBI reported that cybercrime cost the United States $6.9 billion. Anderson said businesses may not invest in cybersecurity either because they cannot afford to or are unaware of the risks.