According to the Bitkom study, most of the attacks on the German economy can be traced back to China.
45 percent of affected companies said they were able to trace attacks to China, while 39 percent suspected Russia as the source.
Theft, espionage or sabotage affected 81 percent of the companies surveyed in the past twelve months, with the damage estimated at 267 billion euros.
Most of the attacks on the German economy can be traced back to China, according to one Do an investigation of the digital society Bitkom.
In a representative survey of more than a thousand companies across all industries, 45 percent of the affected companies said they could trace the attacks back to China. In 2023 it was still at 42 percent. Russia takes second place behind China. 39 percent of the companies that were attacked were certain that they were attacked from Russia, up from 46 percent previously.
The companies surveyed had at least ten employees and an annual turnover of at least one million euros. The companies were questioned about shoplifting, espionage and sabotage.
A good third of the companies that were attacked (36 percent) could not say where the attackers came from. One in five victims of an attack assume that the attack came from Germany. A quarter suspect that the attackers were based in the US. Malicious hackers from Eastern Europe accounted for 32 percent of the cases; the European Union (excluding Germany) was suspected in 21 percent of the cases from the first base.
When it comes to questions of regional origin than cyber and the group of perpetrators, several nominations were possible. This took into account the fact that some of the affected companies were attacked multiple times and from different sectors.
Companies suspected of being groups behind the attacks
The companies attacked suspected that the perpetrators come largely from the ranks of organized crime (70 percent). Foreign intelligence services are thought to be responsible for 20 percent; a year ago, the secret services were only identified as pulling the strings in 7 percent of all incidents. 27 percent of the attacks were said to be acts of revenge by active and former employees.
The Bitkom study also makes it clear to what extent the risk is now accepted. Eight out of ten companies in Germany (81 percent) say that their company has been affected by the theft of data and IT tools as well as digital and analogue industrial espionage or sabotage in the last twelve months gone. Another ten percent suspect this. The damage caused by these analog and digital attacks is estimated by those affected at a total of 267 billion euros, which is 29 percent more than in the previous year.
Attacks threaten life
Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst said that the threat to the German economy is getting worse. “Companies need to further increase their security measures. This applies to digital attacks as well as classic attacks such as eavesdropping on meetings or stealing physical documents,” said Wintergerst. Cyber attacks are a particular threat to the economy. Two-thirds (65 percent) of companies now see themselves at risk from cyber-attacks; a year ago it was 52 percent and in 2021 it was only 9 percent.
dp
2024-08-28 10:28:21
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