German reports accused China with cyberattacks that caused losses to the German economy

The German economy’s losses from theft, sabotage and industrial espionage last year reached a record high of nearly 267 billion Euros, according to a report by the German News Agency.

These estimates, which were included in a study by the German digital association Bitkom published in Berlin, indicated that China has become the most important launching pad for these attacks on companies in Germany.

In a representative survey of more than 1,000 companies across all sectors, 45% of affected companies reported that they were able to trace the attack back to China (compared to 42% in 2023).

In past years, attacks from Russia have dominated the statistics, and currently only 39% of affected companies say their attacks originated in Russia, while this percentage reached 46% in 2023.

In April, it was revealed that hackers believed to be from the People’s Republic of China had been spying on German carmaker Volkswagen for years, where the attacks according to German investigators, targeted the company’s technical know-how.

“From these figures, it’s possible to conclude how many conflicts and tensions there are in this era and how they are played out with cruel means,” Ralf Wintergerst, president of the Bitkom association said.

Malicious hackers from Eastern Europe accounted for 32% of cases, while EU countries (excluding Germany) are believed to have been the source of attacks in 21% of cases.

According to the study, 36% of the companies that were attacked couldn’t determine the region from which the attackers came.

The results indicated that one in five targeted companies (20%) believed that the attack originated in Germany, while a quarter of the affected companies (25%) reported that their attackers were based in the United States.