Economic crime: Study shows 300 billion euros in damage caused by sabotage

The German economy is increasingly confronted with espionage, sabotage, and data theft. Companies estimate the resulting damage at around €289 billion—about 8 percent more than the previous year, according to a representative survey of more than 1,000 German companies conducted by the digital association Bitkom.

According to the survey, 9 out of 10 (87 percent) companies reported theft of data and IT equipment, digital and analog industrial espionage, or sabotage. A year ago, this figure was 81 percent. As in the previous year, another 10 percent suspect that they also experienced attacks.

According to the report, attacks that could be traced back to Russia and China have also increased. Forty-six percent of affected companies reported at least one attack from Russia (previous year: 39 percent), and the same number from China (2024: 45 percent). Attacks from Eastern Europe outside the EU, the USA, EU countries, and Germany followed at a considerable distance. Almost one in three companies was unable to attribute the attacks to a country of origin.

According to the Bitkom survey, 28 percent of affected companies were able to attribute at least one attack to a foreign intelligence service. A year ago, this figure was 20 percent, and in 2023, it was just 7 percent.

However, as in the previous year, the perpetrators most frequently came from organized crime. The reported damages include direct costs such as business interruptions, replacement measures, extortion, and litigation, as well as revenue losses due to the loss of competitive advantages or plagiarism.

"Hybrid warfare by foreign states is not a theoretical threat; it occurs hundreds of times every day in Germany," explained Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst . He called for companies' defense capabilities to be "brought more into the political spotlight." This also applies to cyberspace. But companies must also strengthen their protective measures.

Germany has been a target of Russian actors with increasing intensity for years, said Sinan Selen, the future president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The boundaries between cyber espionage and cybercrime are also becoming increasingly blurred.

Companies are therefore now investing more in their security: The share of IT security in their IT budgets has risen to 18 percent. However, Bitkom President Wintergerst warned that security budgets need to be "stepped up a notch." The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and Bitkom recommend allocating one-fifth of the IT budget to security.

The share of cyberattacks in total damage rose to 70 percent, or just over €202 billion. Companies are particularly affected by ransomware attacks, in which data is encrypted. The blackmailers then demand a ransom to release the data. Thirty-four percent of companies were affected. About one in seven affected companies paid. Almost 60 percent of companies feel their existence is threatened by cyberattacks.

According to Bitkom, managers from 1,002 companies in Germany with at least ten employees and an annual turnover of at least one million euros took part in the survey between mid-April and mid-June.