“Successful cyber attacks can paralyze companies, but also authorities or infrastructure such as railroad lines and airports. We must continue to increase our investments in IT security,” says Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. According to a recent Bitkom study, cyberattacks cause the German economy an annual loss of 202.4 billion euros, and 6 out of 10 companies (59%) feel that their existence is threatened by cyberattacks. At the same time, companies now spend 18% of their entire IT budget on IT security. In 2022, this figure was just 9 percent.
Expenditure on security software and corresponding cloud platforms is increasing the most this year, rising by 12.1 percent to 4.8 billion euros. Expenditure on IT security services is growing by 9.7% to 5.6 billion euros. The increase in IT security hardware was only slight at 1.4% to 800 million euros. The overall German market for IT security will grow by a strong 10.1% in 2025, but other countries will grow faster. The global market for IT security is expected to grow by 11.2% to 212.2 billion euros in 2025. The other European countries will also increase their spending by an average of 10.9%, while the rest of the world will grow by as much as 11.4%. Germany currently has a 5.3% share of the global IT security market. The rest of Europe accounts for 20.5 percent. “The high demand for security solutions that are both powerful and trustworthy offers enormous opportunities for German providers,” says Wintergerst. “it-sa shows that cyber security should not be seen solely as a cost factor; it guarantees the future and enables value creation, trust and innovation in Germany.”
The German economy fears a further increase in cyber attacks. 35% of companies expect attacks to increase significantly over the next twelve months, while a further 47% expect them to increase rather significantly. No company expects a decrease. “Politicians need to speed up the implementation of the NIS 2 Directive, we need European harmonization of IT security and we need to drive forward cross-border cooperation,” says Wintergerst. “It is also important to hold administrations to account. Administrations are extremely important for a functioning community and should adhere to the same high security requirements as companies.”
Methodological note
The market forecasts for the IT security market in Germany and worldwide are based on data from the European consulting and analyst firm PAC. The survey results are based on a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. This involved a telephone survey of 1,002 companies with 10 or more employees and an annual turnover of at least EUR 1 million in Germany. The survey took place in the period from week 16 to week 24 2025. The survey is representative.
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Further links
👉 www.bitkom.org
Graphic: Bitkom
