The damage caused by cyber attacks has never been as high as in the past twelve months: For German companies, the digital association Bitkom e.V. puts the new record figure for 2024 at 266.6 billion euros. This corresponds to an increase of around 29% compared to 205.9 billion euros in 2023. These are the alarming results of a study commissioned by Bitkom, for which more than 1,000 companies across all sectors were surveyed on a representative basis. There are now hardly any companies that do not count themselves among the victims: 81% of all companies are affected by the theft of data and IT equipment as well as digital and analog industrial espionage or sabotage. A further 10 percent at least suspect this. According to Bitkom, the main targets of attackers are customer data, passwords and intellectual property such as patents and information from research and development.
Attacks from China and Russia
It is also revealing where the attacks originate from and how professionally they are now carried out. 70 percent of the companies affected were able to attribute the attacks to organized crime. Foreign intelligence services are also playing an increasingly important role: they were named as the perpetrators in 20 percent of cases. In comparison: last year, only seven percent of the companies attacked assumed that intelligence services were behind these incidents. Most of the attacks came from China, which has become the most important base for attacks on German companies. 45% of the companies affected were able to trace at least one attack back to this country. Russia is close behind with 39 percent. This means that these two areas currently pose the greatest digital threat to the German economy.
So it’s no wonder that Bitkom is urging German companies to continue to ramp up their protective measures. After all, according to the digital association, 65% of companies now feel that their existence is threatened by cyberattacks. A year ago, this figure was 52 percent. These figures are all the more dramatic given that only 53% of companies state that they are very well prepared for cyber attacks. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution also warns that international conflicts and systemic rivalries are now shaping the security situation in cyberspace just as much as in geopolitical space. In addition, the interlinking of cyber espionage and cybercrime has increased further. Companies are therefore well advised to expand their cyber defense. This can be done with solutions such as Managed Detection & Response (MDR). If companies lack the resources for this, these services can be outsourced either completely or at least partially.
