Foreign Intelligence Services Increasingly Target German Companies
Bitkom survey finds 37% of companies hit by data theft, industrial espionage or sabotage traced at least one attack to a foreign intelligence service, while cyberattacks account for 76% of total damage
Illustration: Rafael Minguet Delgado via pexels.com
Foreign intelligence services are playing an increasingly prominent role in attacks against German companies, according to a new survey by German digital association Bitkom. Among companies affected by data theft, industrial espionage or sabotage, 37% were able to trace at least one attack to a foreign intelligence service, up from 28% last year and just 7% in 2023.
Overall, 96% of German companies said they had been affected by, or suspected they had been affected by, data theft, industrial espionage or sabotage. The resulting damage was estimated at €211 billion to €270.8 billion, including business interruptions, legal costs, extortion, lost revenue and the loss of competitive advantages.
Organized crime remains the largest identified perpetrator group, linked to attacks against 62% of affected companies. But foreign intelligence services have now moved into second place. Among companies that could identify the origin of an attack, China was the most frequently cited source at 52%, followed by Russia at 49%. Iran also emerged as a growing threat, with 9% tracing attacks there, up from 4% last year.
Cyberattacks are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the damage. They accounted for 76% of total losses, worth an estimated €160.4 billion to €205.8 billion. Nearly two-thirds of companies reported an increase in cyberattacks over the past year, while 69% expect attacks to increase further.
Artificial intelligence is adding another layer to the threat. Eighty-two percent of companies expect attackers to increasingly use AI, although only 31% said they were certain this was happening. Damage from automated robocalls rose sharply from 3% to 14%, while damage linked to deepfakes doubled from 4% to 8%.
“Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the nature of attacks,” Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst said. He warned that powerful models can generate malicious code and could eventually be used for autonomous attacks, while deepfakes and highly convincing, personalized communications make fraud harder to detect.
At the same time, Wintergerst noted that AI can also be used to detect and prevent attacks more quickly — an opportunity companies will increasingly need to exploit.