It is not new that the digital security situation continues to deteriorate. It is not even ostensibly about attacks by hostile states, but about ordinary criminals. For them, attacks over the Internet line are not only extremely lucrative, they also carry little risk of being discovered and arrested - because hackers are usually located in the countries of the former Soviet Union or in similarly difficult-to-access locations. It is rare that they are traced back there in internationally concerted actions, as happened to the authors of the Emotet malware some time ago.

As a result, the hacker scene is becoming more professional. There is now a market for dubious services of all kinds on the Internet. From encryption software (ransomware) to Trojans to overload attacks (DDoS), you can buy everything - with a division of labor and well organized. Because the problem is not new, those responsible both in companies and in the state have long since recognized it. The Federal Office for Information Security has been warning of the dangers for years.

Nevertheless, the number of successful hacker attacks continues to rise.

Last February, more malware was programmed than ever before.

According to the digital association Bitkom, the damage caused by hackers in Germany has more than tripled since 2019.

The protective measures in this country are obviously not sufficient.

An important reason for this is that the loudest opponents of new security measures are often your own employees.

In many places it is not recognized that one has to change one's own behavior in the interests of security - and that one is no longer allowed to use the same password everywhere, to give a striking example.

There are IT managers who are almost happy about attacks - because once things go wrong, the understanding of security measures grows.

Unfortunately, this often results in damage worth millions.

So it shouldn't stop there.

We should all believe the professionals before something happens.

Otherwise it won't be long before hacker attacks also affect the German economy.