Through Theft of IT equipment and data, through digital and analogue industrial espionage and sabotage the German economy suffers more than 200 billion euros in damage every year. This was announced by the digital association Bitkom on Friday. Last year, Bitkom estimated the damage at 203 billion euros.
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Pursue were interviewed for the study
More than 1002 companies were surveyed for the study, which Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst presented with Sinan Selen, Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) at the federal press conference. Almost three quarters of the German companies surveyed were affected by attacks in the past year and every second feels existentially threatened by cyber attacks.
According to the study, they have increased significantly Attacks attributable to organized crime. This year, this is said to have been the case for 61 percent of the companies affected.
“The threat level remains high”
The study also looks at the countries from which most attacks on German companies come. It is the countries that are mentioned again and again when it comes to cyber attacks: 46 percent of the companies affected were able to trace attacks back to Russia (2021: 23 percent), 42 percent were attacked from China (2021: 30 percent). 61 percent of the companies surveyed even consider the German security authorities to be powerless against cyber attacks from abroad.
In the Federal Ministry of the Interior An amendment to the Basic Law is currently being worked on, with which cyber attacks should be actively repelled. The Federal Criminal Police Office should be given the necessary powers. Wintergerst said: “The threat level remains high, so all companies must increase their IT security. At the same time, we must further expand cooperation between business and security authorities in order to prevent attacks and identify perpetrators.”
Selen added: “The results of the current Bitkom study fit seamlessly into our assessment of the situation. We face a persistently high level of threat from state and non-state cyber actors.”
