Cybercrime and sabotage cost German firms $300 bln in past year

Cybercrime and other acts of sabotage have cost German companies around 267 billion euros ($298 billion) in the past year, up 29 per cent on the year before, according to a survey published on Wednesday.

Industry association Bitkom surveyed around 1,000 companies from all sectors and found that 90 per cent expect more cyberattacks in the next 12 months, with the remaining 10 per cent expecting the same level of attacks.

Some 70 per cent of companies that were targeted attributed the attacks to organised crime, the survey found, adding 81 per cent of companies reported data theft, including customer data, access data and passwords, as well as intellectual property such as patents.

Around 45 per cent of companies said they could attribute at least one attack to China, up from 42 per cent in the previous year. Attacks blamed on Russia came in second place at 39 per cent.

"The threat situation for the German economy is worsening," Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst said in a statement, adding that companies must step up protective measures.

The increase in attacks has prompted companies to allocate 17 per cent of their IT budget to digital security, up from 14 per cent last year, but only 37 per cent said they had an emergency plan to react to security incidents in their supply chain, the survey showed.