Ransomware Attacks on German Companies: Study Reveals Payment Trends and Impact

Ransomware attacks

According to a study by Bitkom, around 11 percent of companies in Germany paid a ransom after a ransomware attack on their company. Overall, more than half of the companies surveyed were affected by an attack – and damage was not always caused.

Bild: Bitkom eV

One in nine companies in Germany (11 percent) that fell victim to a ransomware attack subsequently paid a ransom. This is what the industry association Bitkom reports in a recent survey. 4 out of 10 ransomware victims (44 percent) report that their business operations were affected by the crippled computers and lost data, on average for around 3 days. A total of 1,002 companies with 10 or more employees took part in the survey.

“Do not pay under any circumstances”

“Anyone who falls victim to ransomware should under no circumstances pay,” says Susanne Dehmel, member of the Bitkom management team. “On the one hand, you strengthen the criminal organizations that are behind the attacks and make yourself an interesting target for further attacks. On the other hand, the malware is often so poorly programmed that the data cannot be restored or not completely restored even after payment.”

Overall, around half of all companies in Germany (52 percent) were attacked with ransomware within a year, 23 percent with damage, 29 percent without. 6 in 10 (59 percent) ransomware victims increased their security measures after the attack. 11 percent contacted law enforcement. Susanne Dehmel advises companies to make regular backups: “If you have current backup copies of the data and have practiced quickly importing them back into the systems, you can significantly reduce the damage.”

Every second affected company (49 percent) states that they can restore the data themselves. 7 percent regained access to the data with the help of the perpetrators without making any payments. And 1 percent had their data published by cybercriminals.