Cyberattacks and sabotage, primarily originating from Russia and China, have inflicted record damages on German companies this year, according to warnings issued Thursday by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency and a leading business group. The cost of such attacks reached more than 289 billion euros ($342 billion) in 2025, an increase of eight percent compared with the previous year, according to a corporate survey detailing incidents including data theft, industrial espionage, and sabotage.
“Increasingly the trail leads to Russia and China,” stated the report, which was presented jointly by the BfV domestic intelligence agency and the Bitkom federation of digital businesses. “Foreign intelligence agencies are increasingly targeting the German economy,” BfV Vice President Sinan Selen told reporters at a press conference. Selen, who is set to assume leadership of the BfV, warned that hostile foreign intelligence agencies are “becoming more professional, aggressive and agile.”
He explained that Chinese operations are focused primarily on “economic espionage” designed to gain technological advantages, while Russia’s activities are largely centered on “sabotage” and the spread of “disinformation.” According to Selen, state actors were identified as responsible for attacks by 28 percent of affected companies this year, up from 20 percent in the previous year.
Speaking alongside Selen, Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst noted that attacks had risen at “a disproportionate rise when compared to German economic growth,” which has been stagnant since 2023. Of the 1,002 businesses surveyed for the report, 87 percent said they had been targeted by such an attack, up from 81 percent last year. While 39 percent of companies reported Russian attacks last year, this year the figure rose to 46 percent, with the same proportion reporting Chinese intrusions.
Cyberattacks, particularly those involving ransomware, remain the most damaging method, with costs reaching a record 202 billion euros. Selen cited the example of Kremlin-linked hacker groups such as Laundry Bear, also known as Void Blizzard, which target both German political and economic institutions. Bitkom has advised companies to allocate 20 percent of their IT budgets to strengthening defenses against these attacks. Selen said he was “very happy” that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government was “accentuating and strengthening” the role of the intelligence community in this field.
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