Industrial espionage

Almost every 2nd company is a victim of attacks from China

Attacks on the German economy are on the rise, according to Bitkom.(Bild: Herr Loeffler -stock.adobe.com)

In the past year, China has become the most important base for attacks on the German economy. In a representative survey of more than 1,000 companies across all sectors, 45% of the companies affected stated that they were able to trace the attacks back to China.

According to the study by the digital association Bitkom, 39% of the companies attacked were certain that they had been attacked from Russia. However, a good third of the companies attacked (36%) could not say which region the attackers came from.

Every fifth attack victim (20%) assumes that the attack originated from Germany. A quarter (25 percent) assume that the attackers were based in the USA. Hackers with malicious intentions from Eastern Europe accounted for 32% of cases, while the European Union (excluding Germany) was suspected as the starting point in 21% of cases.

Multiple answers were possible to the questions about the regional origin of the cyber attacks and the group of perpetrators. This took into account the fact that some of the affected companies were attacked several times and from different regions.

Almost every second attack is said to have originated in China.(Bild: Bitkom)

Criminals, secret services and former employees
The companies attacked suspect that the perpetrators mainly come from the ranks of organized crime (70 percent). Foreign intelligence services are suspected to be responsible for 20 percent of attacks; a year ago, intelligence services were only identified as the masterminds behind seven percent of all incidents. In 27 percent of the attacks, active employees and former employees are said to have taken revenge.

Enormous financial losses
The Bitkom survey also clearly shows the extent of the threat. Eight out of ten companies in Germany (81%) say that their company has been affected by the theft of data and IT equipment as well as digital and analog industrial espionage or sabotage in the past twelve months. A further ten percent suspect this. The damage caused by these analog and digital attacks is estimated by those affected to total 267 billion euros, which is 29 percent more than in the previous year.

A threat to existence
"Companies must continue to ramp up their protective measures. This applies to both digital and traditional attacks, such as eavesdropping on meetings or the theft of physical documents," said Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst. Cyber attacks pose a particular threat to the economy. Two thirds (65%) of companies now see their existence threatened by cyberattacks, compared to 52% a year ago and just 9% in 2021.