Ransomware attacks have become particularly frequent and dangerous. For many companies, it is a real nightmare as oftentimes criminals publish their sensitive data on the web. Apart from ransomware, other forms of cybercrime are booming, including cyber espionage and data theft. For instance, the Bitkom study revealed that last year, hacker attacks caused damage of €223 billion to German companies.
Apparently, the total amount of damage also increased by leaps and bounds. According to the study, 86% of German companies, or almost nine out of ten, have experienced data theft, espionage or sabotage by hackers at least once. In 2018, this figure amounted to 75%. A third of the attacks are carried out by organized criminal groups. Only 40% of the cyber crimes are committed by amateur hackers. Notably, 42% of hacker attacks took place due to the negligence of companies' employees. In 28% of cases, hackers purposefully targeted the computers of workers.
CEO of Bitkom Achim Berga noted that the sharp increase in cyberattacks is associated with the switch to the remote work of the staff in most firms during the pandemic. In Germany, 59% of companies that sent employees to remote work reported increased incidents of security and data breaches since the beginning of the pandemic. "Simply sending staff home is not enough. Their devices have to be secured, communication channels protected and staff made aware of the dangers of cybercrime," Berg pointed out.
