Two-thirds of German industry hit by digital crime: Survey

More than two-thirds of German industrial companies have been victims of digital crime in the past two years, according to a survey carried out by Bitkom, Germany’s IT, telecoms and new media industry association.
The most common offence was the simple theft of equipment such as computers, smartphones or tablets, but a fifth of companies surveyed reported that sensitive documents, components or designs had been stolen, while 18 percent said their production had been sabotaged with the aim of damaging or paralyzing it.
Such crimes cost German manufacturing industry more than 22 billion euros ($25 billion) a year, Bitkom estimated following its survey of 504 German manufacturing companies with at least 10 employees.
“With the digitization of production and the networking of machines over the Internet, new contact points arise that are vulnerable to attack,” Winfried Holz, a Bitkom executive committee member, said in a statement issued at the Hannover Messe industry trade fair.
German industry, with its numerous hidden champions, is an attractive target for cybercriminals and foreign intelligence services,” he added. Germany has hundreds of small and medium-sized family-owned manufacturers that are world leaders in their niche.
Bitkom said the 69% of manufacturing companies affected by cybercrime was a far higher proportion than the 51% average for German companies in general.
About 70% of the machinery and equipment manufacturers surveyed said they had been victims, 68% of chemicals and pharmaceuticals producers, 65% of electronics makers and 61% of car makers.
Cyber criminality was most often found in production or assembly, with 36% of reported cases, followed by 30% in warehousing and logistics, 29% in IT and 23% in research and development.