There are still many people and companies whose security awareness leaves a lot to be desired. Especially when people think that there is no reason for cyber criminals to launch an attack on their own data, data protection is often neglected. However, this opens the door to cyberattacks, as anyone can become a victim.
The damage caused by a lack of security awareness
Security awareness means being aware of the dangers of cybercrime. This danger affects us all, even if we believe that we have nothing to hide or that we have no useful data that criminals can use. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Cyber criminals do not always deliberately choose their targets. Attacks are often scattered and can therefore affect anyone.
Between 2016 and 2021, for example, global phishing attacks rose from around 19,000 to a staggering 323,972. And these are just the attacks that were reported. Who knows how many of those affected did not even notice an attack or did not report it.
In general, the email inbox is one of the biggest security gaps. Phishing emails, viruses, Trojans and all other dangers are sent by email. Open the wrong link or attachment once and your data is no longer protected.
In Germany alone, ransomware causes more than 25 billion euros in damage every year. According to statistics, criminals demanded over 500 billion euros in ransom money in connection with cyber attacks in 2021 and got away with it.
An attack by ransomware can therefore be very expensive. In over 50 percent of cases, this results in damages of over 10,000 euros and can go up to 100,000 euros. In almost 80 percent of cases, damage of up to 1 million euros can occur.
German companies in the focus of cybercrime
The most widespread type of cyber attack is phishing. Over 60 percent of successful attacks are carried out in the form of phishing.
German companies are in the spotlight in a certain way, as their protection still leaves a lot to be desired in 2023. Security awareness should be omnipresent. After all, we keep hearing about successful attacks and criminal methods are constantly being developed to cause even more damage.
In a survey of employees from various companies in different sectors, it emerged that, at best, they consider their companies to be moderately competent when it comes to IT security. In many cases, the assessment was even lower.
Regardless of the size of the company, the majority of employees are of the opinion that there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of data protection. It also emerged that there is a lack of specialist staff in the IT area or that some companies, especially smaller ones, do not have an IT department at all.
A lack of employee expertise also plays a role here, as IT security also comes from employee training in this area. Instead, many companies are careless with passwords or open emails without thinking, even if they may contain dangerous content.
So there is still a lot of work to be done before security awareness in German companies reaches a level that makes attacks by cyber criminals less successful. But it would make sense to start expanding protection now, otherwise you will be left behind in the long term.
Conclusion
Security awareness in German companies, but also among private individuals, must be increased. Hackers sometimes find it easy to phish data from German companies because they do not take the protection of their data seriously enough. The statistics show that the number of attacks is increasing, but security is not being improved. This is definitely the wrong direction of development. Crime never sleeps and criminals are constantly developing new methods to gain access to companies’ data. Those who do not act now will fall by the wayside in the long term.
