206 billion euros in damage is caused to the German economy annually by theft of IT equipment and data as well as digital and analogue industrial espionage and sabotage. This means that the damage exceeds the 200 billion euro mark for the third time in a row (2022: 203 billion euros, 2021: 223 billion euros).
These are the results of a study commissioned by the digital association Bitkom, for which more than 1,000 companies were representatively surveyed. Around three quarters (72 percent) of all companies have been affected by analogue and digital attacks in the past twelve months, and a further eight percent suspect this without being able to prove such attacks beyond doubt. Compared to the previous year, with 84 and nine percent respectively, the number of attacks has thus decreased slightly. However, the number of attacks attributed to organised crime (OC) has increased significantly. 61 percent of the companies affected see the perpetrators in this area. A year ago, the share was 51 per cent, two years ago only 29 per cent.
At the same time, since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, Russia and China have increasingly become the basis for attacks on the German economy. 46 percent of the companies affected could trace attacks back to Russia (2021: 23 percent), 42 percent were attacked from China (2021: 30 percent).