Technical, organizational and human shortcomings in companies open the door for hackers. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Verband der Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik e.V. (German Association of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Information Technology - VDE) among member companies and universities. The VDE identified malware infections, blackmail with Trojans or ransomware, burglaries via remote maintenance access and, last but not least, human error. Four out of ten respondents said their company has definitely already been the target of cyber-attacks, another 40% said they did not know, and only one in five said no.

In addition to the broad attack surface, which globally networked production offers, the study identified another basic problem. Cyber security is still seen as a something that drives up costs rather than a necessity in many organizations. More than three out of five respondents stated in the VDE Tec Report 2018, which the association presented at the Hannover Messe, that their company wanted to invest more in IT security in the future. This puts the VDE members in the global trend. For example, Future Market Insights forecasts annual growth rates of just under 15% for the IoT security market by 2027. The Internet of Things is a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals because of the sheer number of possible attack points. Experts predict that by 2020, one in four cyber attacks on companies will target IoT components.