German firms report rising cyber threat from foreign intelligence services

Foreign intelligence services are being blamed for a sharply rising share of cyberattacks and sabotage targeting German businesses, according to a major industry survey released on August 27, 2026. The report from the digital industry association Bitkom found that 37% of companies that suffered data theft, industrial espionage, or sabotage in the past year attributed at least one incident to a foreign intelligence agency. This figure represents a significant increase from 28% in the previous year and a more than fivefold jump from just 7% in 2023.

The survey of over 1,000 German companies with at least 10 employees indicates that foreign intelligence services have now become the second-most commonly identified source of attacks, trailing only organized crime. Of the companies that experienced an incident and could attribute it, more than half traced at least one attack to China, with Russia following closely behind. Iran was identified as a source by roughly one in ten affected companies, marking it as a growing concern. These attributions are part of a broader, complex threat landscape where the boundaries between state-backed actors and criminal groups are becoming...