- Telekom presents Cyber Security Report 2014 for top executives from business and politics
- Frequency of attacks on corporate IT up slightly from 2013
- IT security seen as vital to success
The NSA affair is having a discernible impact on business and politics, with almost two thirds of managers now seeing a need to create European alternatives to the Internet and IT giants of the U.S. This was the outcome of a representative survey of politicians and top-level management from corporations and medium-sized companies carried out by the Allensbach Institute for opinion and market research on behalf of Deutsche Telekom.
"There has been a huge about-face in opinion since the NSA affair," said Reinhard Clemens, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom and CEO or T-Systems. "Even just two years ago, most managers saw no need for European counterparts to the technology giants outside of Europe." In fact, almost two thirds of the 621 top decision-makers would now like to see the creation of a Internet within Europe's borders, but consider it unlikely that this could become reality.
Multiple hacker attacks weekly The Cyber Security Report 2014 also revealed that attacks on corporate IT in Germany have risen once again. Nine out of 10 companies (92 percent) registered external attacks in 2014 - 14 percent on a daily basis, and 18 percent once a week or more. Despite this, only 39 percent of corporate managers consider themselves to be at high or extremely high risk from hacker attacks. This figure is down from 53 percent in 2013.
60 percent of companies feel they are well protected against IT-related dangers - which is surprising considering four out of five managers believe that IT attacks cause serious damage to the economy every year. What is more, 69 percent of participating decision-makers from corporations and medium-sized companies consider IT security to be vital to their commercial success - a factor preceded only by the traditional areas of customer proximity and cost efficiency.
Companies cooperate on IT security issues As part of a global value chain, almost three quarters of these companies therefore cooperate with suppliers or partners on IT security issues more or less on a regular basis. IT security is top of the agenda in particular for companies that exchange data using largely automated processes; something that will continue to become more widespread as the booming Industry 4.0 trend gathers pace.
The Allensbach Institute conducted its survey of 621 top decision-makers from business and politics - 109 politicians and 512 managers from corporations and medium-sized companies - by telephone between August 18 and October 1, 2014. The survey was commissioned by Deutsche Telekom and the results are representative. 3rd Cyber Security Summit in Bonn The 3rd Cyber Security Summit takes place on November 3. The Munich Security Conference (MSC) and Deutsche Telekom will bring together representatives of the Federal Government, EU, NATO, U.S. Government, and international leading companies in Bonn. This summit fosters transatlantic dialog and helps to promote cooperation on digital defense for countries and companies. Discussions on critical infrastructure and innovation protection in connection with cyber security are also on the agenda.
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 60.1 billion in the 2013 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany.