Two thirds of German manufacturers have been hit by cyber attacks at a cost of €43 billion ($50 billion) to the economy, say IT experts, with small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) being the most vulnerable.

In many cases, German manufacturers are considered as “world-leading”, developing cutting edge products. Not only are German security officials concerned about criminal gangs, they are aware of well-resourced foreign spy agencies using cyber attacks to steal the advanced manufacturing techniques that have given Germany this kudos. One third of companies recently surveyed reported stolen mobile phones and lost sensitive digital data. Other techniques to steal information included sabotaged or hacked IT and production systems, and tapping communications.

We are strongly urging all companies to take cyber-security seriously and make the investment required to protect your intellectual property. The results of the survey in Germany show that gangs will use every means at their disposal to take your information and because of this a holistic approach to security is needed, one which considers all aspects of your business including servers, communications, storage and staff training.

To see how Utilize has helped a typical SME recover from a malware attack please see our case study.

Or for more information about how we can help keep your IP safe, call us on 0333 0069060 or email info@utilize.co.uk