Cybersecurity Study: Do companies take data protection and security seriously?

The number of cyber incidents has been rising for years, and attacks on companies are becoming more aggressive and increasingly sophisticated. These worrying trends pose new organizational and financial challenges for companies. A study commissioned by Threema felt the pulse of managers from different business sectors. The goal of the study was to see what role cybersecurity plays in companies, with a focus on communication tools and mobile devices.

The results are reassuring and worrying at the same time: On the one hand, the study shows that the surveyed companies are aware of the escalating threat potential and the legal situation, and that investments in IT security are being allocated accordingly. On the other, certain risks are ignored, in particular with regard to communication channels, which puts both employee and company data at risk. The study reveals potential for improvement in the following areas:

• Many of the executives surveyed assume that their employees use private chat apps like WhatsApp for business communication. This does not only violate the GDPR, but it also unnecessarily exposes company data.
• Some companies have no rules for whether or how private chat apps may be used for corporate communication.
• Around a fifth of the companies surveyed do not have a backup channel in place to maintain communication and business continuity during a cyber incident, which would be required by the new NIS2 directive for operators of critical infrastructure.

To learn how cybersecurity is being treated in German companies and what to focus on when choosing a communication channel, read our findings summary.

Download the findings summary →