The German state suffered damage as a result of cybercrime in an amount that will exceed the limit of 200 billion euros for the third year in a row in more than 1,000 companies.
Theft of IT equipment and data, as well as digital and industrial espionage and sabotage, will cost Germany 206 billion euros ($224 billion) this year, German digital association Bitkom said on Friday.
“The German economy is a very attractive target for criminals and hostile states. “The lines between organized crime and state-controlled actors are rather blurred,” said Bitcom President Ralf Wintergerst.
Around three-quarters of companies surveyed had suffered a digital attack in the past 12 months, down from 84% of companies in the previous year.
The slight decrease in the number of companies is a positive sign and indicates that protective measures are working, according to analysts who deal with this problem.
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When asked whether “cyber attacks threaten your business existence”, for the first time more than half of the companies, i.e. 52 percent, answered “yes”. A year ago, that figure was 45 percent, and two years ago, only 9 percent, the research showed.
Of the companies that suffered attacks, as many as 70% of cases had sensitive data stolen, which is an increase of 7% compared to the previous year. Similarly, 61% of companies have had their digital communications spied on – up 4% from the previous year, Reuters reports.
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