Just two years ago, the Cybercrime The damage caused by cybercriminals amounted to 103 billion euros, significantly less than half. The number of extortion incidents has increased particularly sharply. The resulting damage has increased three and a half times since 2019. Currently, one in ten companies sees its business existence threatened by cyberattacks.
“The force with which ransomware attacks are shaking our economy is worrying and is affecting companies of all industries and sizes,”
says Bitkom President Achim Berg:
The theft of intellectual property could have serious consequences for the innovation-driven German economy, said Berg.
Cybercrime often targets employees
Employees are a common entry point for attackers. Security mechanisms are overcome using social engineering, or the deliberate deception of employees. 41 percent of the companies surveyed reported such attempts. Malware caused damage in 31 percent of the companies surveyed. DDoS attacks, in which attackers deliberately overload systems, were experienced by 27 percent. Spoofing, the use of a false identity, and phishing, the interception of personal data, caused damage in 20 and 18 percent of companies, respectively.
Communications data was stolen from almost two-thirds of the companies affected by cybercrime. Intellectual property such as patents or research information was stolen from 18 percent. Criminals also gained access to non-critical business data (44 percent), customer data (31 percent), financial data (29 percent), and critical business information such as market analyses (19 percent). In 19 percent of cases, access data to cloud services was stolen.
Current and former employees most frequently caused damage, mostly unintentionally. Hobby hackers were involved in 40 percent of cases, and organized crime in 29 percent. At 43 percent, most attacks originate from Germany. 37 percent suspect perpetrators from Eastern Europe (excluding Russia), 30 percent from China, and 23 percent from Russia.
