Theft, espionage and sabotage cause a total loss of 223 billion euros to the German economy every year. This is the result of the Study "Wirtschaftsschutz 2021" presented by Bitkom President Achim Berg and the Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Sinan Selen, on August 5, 2021. According to the study, nine out of ten companies in Germany are victims of theft, espionage and sabotage. Extortion, system failures and operational disruptions have increased significantly and more than quadrupled. As a result of this development, one in ten companies already sees its existence threatened. The main driver of this enormous increase is extortion incidents.
 

Home networks are often inadequately protected

Many companies have been able to draw a positive conclusion from their employees working from home - even in times of coronavirus. This trend has a positive impact on the future development of home office workplaces. However, one downside can be inadequate protection of the home network and thus the home office workplace.

Unsecured Wi-Fi networks are gateways when working from home

Many manufacturers of Wi-Fi routers implement the guest network function. And this is where the danger lies: the guest network function can be activated via the router's admin interface. Figuratively speaking, the guest network represents an "insecure" Wi-Fi area next to a "secure" Wi-Fi area.

Ransomware attacks are increasing dramatically

59% of the 817 companies surveyed where working from home is generally possible stated that there had been IT security incidents attributable to working from home since the start of the pandemic. In 24 percent of these companies, this had even happened frequently. If an attack was linked to working from home, half of the cases (52%) also resulted in damage. Berg: "Simply sending employees home to work is not enough. Their devices must be secured, the communication channels to the company must be protected and the workforce must be made aware of the dangers. Anyone who fails to do this is behaving negligently". (Excerpt from the study presented in the joint press release)

Increasing security through network segmentation - here's how

• Always separate guest networks from devices that are otherwise connected to the secure Wi-Fi network.
• If necessary, set up a second, secure network by implementing a second router in the existing network.
• If necessary, also connect the communication between the individual WLAN-enabled end devices. You can find out how to do this here.