The damage will surpass the 200 billion euro mark for the third consecutive year, according to a Bitkom survey of more than 1,000 companies. The boundaries between organised crime and state-controlled actors are blurred," Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst said. Around three quarters of the companies surveyed suffered digital attacks in the past 12 months, falling from 84% of the companies in the previous year. When asked whether "cyber attacks threaten your business existence", for the first time more than half of the companies, or 52%, said "yes". Of the companies that suffered attacks, 70% have had sensitive data stolen - an increase of 7 percentage points on the previous year.

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Persons: Bitkom, Ralf Wintergerst, Sinan Selen, Maria Martinez, Friederike Heine, Susan Fenton Organizations: U.S . National Security Agency, Federal Office, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, Germany, German