Russia, China target German economy: Cyber attacks cost Germany almost 300 billion euros in past year, survey finds (www.bitkom.org)
from Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org to cybersecurity@sh.itjust.works on 18 Sep 13:29
https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/42496599

cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/42496551

Original report (pdf, only in German language available)

  • Damage caused by data theft, industrial espionage and sabotage increases to 289.2 billion euros in Germany in the last 12 months, 9 in 10 companies (87%) were effected
  • The largest part of the 289.2 billion euros in damages reported by the 1,002 companies polled came from concrete production losses or theft, but legal and remediation costs were also substantial
  • Cyberattacks: Almost three out of four companies register increase in attacks

[…]

The survey by Germany industry group Bitkom found that almost half of all companies that could identify the sources of attacks had traced them to Russia and China, while about a quarter traced them to other European Union countries or the United States.

In detail, of the companies affected, 46 percent have detected at least one attack from Russia (2024: 39 percent), as many from China (2024: 45 percent). Attacks from Eastern Europe outside the EU (31 percent, 2024: 32 percent), from the USA (24 percent, 2024: 25 percent), from EU countries (22 percent, 2024: 21 percent) and Germany (21 percent, 2024: 20 percent).

[…]

#cybersecurity

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vollkorntomate@infosec.pub on 18 Sep 13:55 next collapse

As long as ethical security researchers have to face criminal charges for responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities, this will not get any better.

(Of course that’s not the only thing that needs to change)

[deleted] on 18 Sep 13:56 next collapse

.

sith@lemmy.zip on 18 Sep 14:57 collapse

Maybe I’m naive, but that number does not seem reasonable. It basically says that 5% of German GDP is lost because of cyber crime. Are the writers infosec consultants maybe?

Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org on 18 Sep 16:22 collapse

It’s hard to get reliable numbers. One study I could find is a review published by the World Bank in 2024 that analyzes the long-term development of cyber incidents and their economic costs. Among others, it says:

According to the UK Cabinet Office, in 2011, the UK government estimated that the costs of cybercrime was USD 33.67 billion or about 1.3% of the country’s GDP, with the largest share posed to businesses—about 77.78%. Grant Thornton (2021) shows that in 2014, the total cost of cybercrime in Ireland was USD 695.5 million, and then, in 2020, it increased dramatically to USD 10.5 billion, or 2.5% of the country’s GDP.

Source (pdf)

Note that the 1.3% of UK’s GDP and Ireland’s 2.5% relate to 2011 and 2014, respectively. So we may reasonably assume it’s much higher. Although the numbers in this review are probably not fully comparable with Bitkom’s survey, it provides useful insights, and the 5% don’t seem so far-fetched.