Cyber incidents are German companies' top concern, surpassing natural disasters

Cyber incidents are rated by most German companies as the greatest risk to their business, according to the annual risk barometer conducted by insurance group Allianz. In its survey, Allianz includes events such as data protection breaches, hacker attacks, ransomware attacks and service outages. Cyber incidents are followed in the risk ranking by business interruptions, natural disasters and changes to legal and regulatory requirements.

According to the survey, concern about cyber incidents has continued to grow in the German economy. While 44% of managers and security experts surveyed in the previous year feared hacker attacks and similar incidents, this year the figure rose to 47%. Closely related to this is the shutdown of operations caused in many cases by cyber attacks in second place, which worries 40 percent of those surveyed.

Skills shortage no longer a deterrent

Cyber attacks are now in first place as the biggest risk for companies for the fourth year in a row. "Given the increasing reliance on technology, it is likely to remain a key risk for businesses in the future," said Rishi Baviskar, Global Head of Cyber Risk Consulting at Allianz Commercial. "The CrowdStrike incident in the summer of 2024 showed us how dependent we all are on secure IT systems."

The much-lamented shortage of skilled workers, on the other hand, has probably lost some of its scare factor, slipping from fourth place last year to eighth. Allianz assumes that the weak economic development in Germany and the associated job cuts play a role here. The corporate insurer Allianz Commercial, which is part of the Munich-based Dax group, said it surveyed a total of 3,778 managers, security experts, brokers and some of its own employees in 106 countries for the risk barometer.

Data breaches are the worst

In the case of natural disasters, the proportion of those concerned rose by nine percentage points to 29%. According to Allianz, this reflects the increasing damage caused by natural disasters. At 29%, the number of people who are concerned about regulation has also risen –, for example due to customs duties, protectionism or environmental regulations.

In the global ranking, cyber concerns are also in first place. Here, the number of companies increased from 36 percent to 38 percent. Most respondents cited data breaches as the most worrying cyber threat, ahead of attacks on critical infrastructure or assets.

Climate change moved up to fifth place in the global ranking, with just under a fifth of participants (19%) rating it as a top business risk. In Germany, global warming apparently no longer plays such a major role for companies and ranks seventh in the risk ranking with 17% (previous year: 19%).

(axk)