Cyberattacks cause annual damage of 50 billion euros to the German economy. The number of attacks has doubled in the last five years.
One study According to the consulting firm Deloitte, every second medium-sized and large company in Germany is attacked by cybercriminals once a week. More than four-fifths of large corporations report monthly attacks, and half of them even report daily attacks. The average damage per attack, according to the study, is €700,000. Peter Wirnsperger from Deloitte says:
"German companies are popular targets due to their know-how. Attackers seek information about products and business processes in order to profit from the information they steal."
Awareness of cyber risks, Wirnsperger says, is continually increasing. Nevertheless, one in three medium-sized and large companies surveyed does not pursue a cybersecurity strategy, and in one in four companies, management has only addressed the issue marginally or not at all. Only just over a third of managers are familiar with the legal requirements on the subject. At 42 percent, less than half of respondents consider their management to be competent in cybersecurity.
Cyber defense measures are “rather sobering”
The managers surveyed perceive the greatest risks as being the behavior of their employees: Three-quarters fear human error. Almost half have concerns about the use of mobile devices, and around half have reservations about cloud computing. Even among those skeptical of the cloud, 28 percent use such services. Prof. Dr. Renate Köcher from the Allensbach Institute, which conducted the study, says:
"One in three companies lacks a clear strategy, including those that consider themselves well prepared. Although overall security spending has increased, the status of defenses is rather sobering."
