German firms see spike in Russia, China cyberattacks with annual economy loss of $160 bn

German companies are facing increased incidences of cyber threats and attacks from Russia and China, according to a new study published by the Berlin's digital association Bitkom on Friday. As per the data gathered from more than 1,000 German companies, approximately 46 percent of all cyber attacks originated in Russia this year 2023, which spiked from 23 percent in 2021. An estimated 42 percent of the total surveyed firms said that they believed most of the cyberattacks originated in China. The incidents increased by a whopping 30 percent since 2021. 

Approximately one-third, nearly 37 percent of the German companies said that they were unable to determine the geographical origin of the cyber attacks. 29 percent of the companies said that they may have been attacked by the hackers within Germany or those based in Eastern Europe. "Hackers with malicious intentions from the United States, nearly 18 percent, and other countries in the European Union, nearly 11 per cent, played a subordinate role," the Bitkom report revealed. Companies who were frequently targetted were asked to choose from the multiple answers by the experts. 

Possible to track fingerprints of cyber attackers: VP of German domestic intelligence service

Vice-President of the German domestic intelligence services, Sinan Selen, said that the findings and the self-assessments by companies and firms that witnessed cyberattacks coincided with the data and the findings of the agency. It was possible to determine and track the fingerprints of the cyber attackers, he noted. “In many cases, we can trace the origin very precisely, sometimes down to specific districts from which the attacks originated," Selen further iterated.

As per Bitkom, cyberattacks are responsible for three-quarters, an estimated 72 percent, of the damages caused to the German economy, costing US$160 billion this year. Most commonly it includes data theft, sabotage and industrial espionage among other cyber crimes.  

Germany has been mulling ways to strengthen cyber security. Last year, the European Union tabled the Cyber Resilience Act that focused on the security of IoT devices, Bitkom President Achim Berg said in a release. "Europe needs to put more focus on defending against cyber-attacks. The Cyber Resilience Act can make an important contribution to strengthening the security of connected devices," Berg stressed. "Effective protection against cyber criminals is a prerequisite for bringing devices and technologies in a connected home to a higher level of security. Crisis resilience has rarely ever been more important than today, so the Cyber Resilience Act comes at just the right time," he added.