Day: September 4, 2023

Cybercrime will cost Germany 206 billion euros ($224 billion) in 2023, German digital association Bitkom told Reuters.

According to the German digital association Bitkom, cybercrime will have a worrisome impact on the economy of the state in 2023. Bitkom estimated that cybercriminal activities, such as fraud, cyber espionage, the theft of intellectual property, sabotage, and extortion will cost Germany 206 billion euros ($224 billion) in 2023.

These figures, which are the result of a Bitkom survey of more than 1,000 companies, don’t surprise cyber security experts but are disconcerting for politicians and citizens.

Around three-quarters of the surveyed organizations was hit by cyber attacks in the past 12 months, falling from 84% of the companies in the previous year.

Germany is considered the locomotive of Europe, its economy is among those that drive the EU for this reason German companies are the target of ruthless cyber criminals intent on maximizing profits.

Unfortunately, this is the third consecutive year that the cost will surpass 200 billion euro.

“The German economy is a highly attractive target for criminals and hostile states. The boundaries between organised crime and state-controlled actors are blurred,” Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst told Reuters.

Awareness about cyber threats and threat actors’ TTPs, along with the adoption of adeguate protective measures allowed to mitigate the attacks.

“The slight decline in the number of companies is a positive sign and indicates that protective measures are having an effect,” said Wintergerst.

52% of the surveyed companies believe that “cyber attacks threaten their business existence.”

In 2022 that figure stood at 45%, while two years ago it was at 9%, and this growth is a positive indication that the awareness is rapidly increasing.

The situation is not good if we analyze the damages caused by attacks, 70% have had sensitive data stolen (+7% compared to 2022).

The digital communications of 61% of companies was compromised, +4% on the year.

“Our response to this growing threat is to significantly strengthen cooperation with our partners, rapid detection and reaction to attacks, as well as continuous adaptation of our defence mechanisms,” said Sinan Selen, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, cybercrime)

The post Cybercrime will cost Germany $224 billion in 2023 appeared first on Security Affairs.

Canada has reinforced its support for and underlined its commitment to Ukraine with the appointment of its new representative who has strong ties with the country.

Taiwan expects to restore power supply by late on Monday to thousands of homes cut off by Typhoon Haikui in the island’s south and east, where schools and businesses were shut, while domestic airlines cancelled all but a handful of flights.

The first typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in four years, Haikui made landfall on Sunday in the island’s mountainous and sparsely populated far southeast, before moving across the south.

It knocked out power to almost 260,000 households, the economy ministry said, adding that it aimed to restore electricity to the last 26,000 homes by 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Monday.

Classes were cancelled and workers given the day off for a second day across southern, eastern and central regions, while Taipei, the capital, received sporadic gusty rain showers.

The world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) (2330.TW), said its plants in Taiwan were operating normally and had not been affected by the storm.

Fire officials reported 116 injuries from the typhoon but were still trying to ascertain if the death of a man found by a roadside in Taitung was linked to it.

Taiwan airlines cancelled 208 domestic flights, leaving just a handful scheduled, while ferry services to surrounding islands were suspended.

International flights, with just 23 cancelled, suffered less disruption, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.

Haikui is much weaker than Typhoon Saola, which hit Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Saturday.

By Monday, Haikui had entered the Taiwan Strait, heading for China, Taiwan’s weather authorities said, though it will continue to bring heavy rain across the island into the middle of the week.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall on the border between the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, near the city of Shantou, on Tuesday morning and weaken further, China’s weather forecast centre said.

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Africa’s first climate summit kicked off in the Kenyan capital on Monday with delegates aiming to forge a common position ahead of upcoming global conferences and discussing how to fund the continent’s environmental priorities.

Organisers say they anticipate hundreds of millions of dollars in deals to be announced at the three-day summit, during which they aim to showcase Africa as a destination for climate investment rather than a victim of floods, drought and famine.

On Monday environment ministers, business executives and climate campaigners will discuss how to scale up climate finance and carbon markets, investments in adaptation to rising temperatures, and transformation of food systems.

More than 20 presidents and heads of government are expected to attend the summit from Tuesday. They plan to issue a declaration outlining Africa’s position ahead of a U.N. climate conference next month in New York in September and the COP28 U.N. summit in the United Arab Emirates from late November.

In her opening remarks, Kenyan Environment Minister Soipan Tuya stressed the urgency of the moment.

“The climate change debate has entered a new era. It is no longer just about tackling an environmental or development problem, but about addressing climate change in the context of justice,” Tuya said.

“If we do not develop adequate response measures to deal with climate change crisis, it will destroy us.”

African leaders are pushing market-based financing instruments such as carbon credits in a bid to mobilize funding that they say has been slow to arrive from rich-world donors.

Carbon credits allow polluters to offset emissions by funding activities including tree-planting and renewable energy.

One of the top lenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rawbank, and global energy trader Vitol (VITOLV.UL) announced a $20 million investment on Monday in renewable energy, clean cooking and forest conservation in Congo.

Many African campaigners, however, have opposed the summit’s approach to climate finance, saying it advances Western priorities at the expense of the continent.

They say carbon credits and other financing instruments are a pretext for wealthier countries and corporations to continue polluting and that African countries should hold donors to financial commitments they have previously made to poorer ones but so far only met in part.

“Africa needs funding from countries that have got rich off our suffering. They owe a climate debt,” said Mohamed Adow, the director of energy at the Power Shift Africa think tank.

African countries contribute only about 3% of global carbon emissions, according to U.N. figures, but are increasingly exposed to the impact of extreme weather linked to climate change, including the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades.

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Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) launched its weight-loss injection Wegovy in Britain on Monday, its second debut in Europe in just over a month as the drugmaker seeks to expand in the region even as it struggles to keep up with soaring demand.

The Danish drugmaker said in a statement that Wegovy would be available in the United Kingdom “through a controlled and limited launch”.

Surging demand for the drug, and Novo’s highly effective diabetes drug Ozempic, have sent the company’s shares and earnings to record highs. On Friday it unseated LVMH (LVMH.PA) as Europe’s most valuable listed company, ending the French luxury group’s 2-1/2 year-long reign at the top.

Wegovy, shown to help patients reduce body weight by around 15% when used along with exercise and lifestyle changes, is so far available in the United States, Norway, Denmark, and as of late July, Germany.

Novo’s inability to keep up with U.S. demand for Wegovy has effectively delayed the launch in most of Europe.

The company has struggled to keep up with demand even as it has added production capacity, and its Chief Executive Officer told Reuters last month it would “take quite some years” before the company can satisfy the whole market.

“We are closely monitoring Wegovy demand and are working with regulators and providers to ensure people living with obesity can have access to and remain on treatment,” the company said in its statement.

In March, Britain’s drug cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE recommended the use of Wegovy in adults with at least one weight-related condition and a body mass index of 35, but only within the National Health Service’s (NHS) specialist weight management scheme.

NICE’s recommendation also calls for Wegovy to be used “for a maximum of two years”.

It was not immediately clear what the cost of Wegovy in the United Kingdom would be. NICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday morning.

Novo’s statement noted that the drug will be available both within the National Health Service’s weight management scheme and “privately through a registered healthcare professional”.

Novo did not say how much supply it would make available in Britain or how much Wegovy would cost in either of the two treatment scenarios it mentioned. In the United States, the drug sells for as much as $1,350 a month.

It was not immediately clear what the implications would be of the drug being available through private healthcare professionals.

“As we expect supply to be constrained for the foreseeable future, a proportion of available supply will be allocated for use only within the NHS to allow healthcare professionals to implement NICE guidance,” the Novo statement said.

Around 50,000 eligible patients in England could be prescribed Wegovy through NHS specialist weight management services, an NHS spokesperson said in a statement in response to Reuters questions on the launch.

“Despite global supply constraints, NHS England is taking action to begin implementing NICE guidance for weight management, while at the same time working to restore supplies of this class of drug for people with type 2 diabetes,” the NHS spokesperson said.

In June, the British government said it planned to launch a pilot programme exploring how new weekly weight-loss shots such as Wegovy can be given to obese patients by general practitioners, though at the time Wegovy’s launch date was unknown.

Reuters reported last week that supplies of Wegovy were limited in Germany less than a month after its launch in Europe’s largest drug market, highlighting the challenge for Novo’s ambitions in Europe.

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