BERLIN, Aug 28 Reuters Cybercrime and other acts of sabotage have cost German companies around 267 billion euros 298 billion in the past year, up 29 on the year before, according to a survey published on Wednesday.

Industry association Bitkom surveyed around 1,000 companies from all sectors and found that 90 expect more cyberattacks in the next 12 months, with the remaining 10 expecting the same level of attacks.

Some 70 of companies that were targeted attributed the attacks to organised crime, the survey found, adding 81 of companies reported data theft, including customer data, access data and passwords, as well as intellectual property such as patents.

Around 45 of companies said they could attribute at least one attack to China, up from 42 in the previous year. Attacks blamed on Russia came in second place at 39.

The threat situation for the German economy is worsening, Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst said in a statement, adding that companies must step up protective measures.

The increase in attacks has prompted companies to allocate 17 of their IT budget to digital security, up from 14 last year, but only 37 said they had an emergency plan to react to security incidents in their supply chain, the survey showed.

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Reporting by Christian Kraemer; Writing by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Mark Potter

Source Reuters