To complete the study , Accenture conducted questionnaires in 11 countries and 16 industries. In Germany, 289 managers from 40 companies took part. In this group, costs increased by 18% on average last year due to cyberattacks. The most common type of attack in Germany is based on malware, followed by personal attacks using phishing and social engineering. These companies see the threat as sufficiently serious for them to already be investing 15% of their security budget in protective measures against personal attacks of this nature. In a comparison of the various industries, German energy providers demonstrate the highest costs resulting from cybercrime. Last year, they were forced to spend an average of 16 million euros.

Digital association Bitkom estimates the total value of the damages wrought upon the industry over the past two years by sabotage, data theft and industrial espionage tallies up to 43.4 billion euros. 68% of all industry companies surveyed were victims of a cyberattack at least once during this period.