Overview
- At a national cybersecurity conference on June 24, speakers cited Bundeskriminalamt data showing 1,041 ransomware and related extortion cases last year, up from 950 in 2024.
- The Federal Office for Information Security rates the threat as high and warned that artificial intelligence will let attackers find and exploit weaknesses faster.
- Hospitals are prime targets because stolen patient records bring higher ransom demands and let criminals carry out extra black‑mail, while weeks‑long outages can push organizations toward insolvency.
- Public administrations have seen the largest percentage increase in attacks because long‑running IT and procurement gaps make it hard to raise security quickly.
- Investigators often trace attacks to actors operating from Russia, where low prosecution risk and blurred links between state cyber units and criminal groups create a de facto safe haven, and authorities are pressing for new powers including an active cyber‑defence law.