Business Climate Survey. Section on the Current Entrepreneurial Situation. Q4/2023

In the fourth quarter of 2023, 26.1% of businesses in Catalonia declared that they were cyberattacked, 9.9% during last year and 16.2% more than 12 months ago.

By activity sectors, industry showed the highest percentage of businesses that suffered a cyberattack (38.2%). In terms of business size, businesses with 50 employees and over were the most affected (32.2%), and those with less than 10 employees, the least (17.9%).

A percentage of 51.6% of the businesses in Catalonia that were cyberattacked declared that they couldn't identify the entry point, and 46.4% reported the attack to the competent authorities.

The main consequences of the last cyberattack in businesses were: lack of availability of ICT services (in 33.5% of cases), data destruction or corruption (30.4%) and financial fraud (18.5%).

A percentage of 95.0% of businesses in Catalonia stated that they apply cybersecurity measures. Of these, 94.7% back up data to a separate location (including the cloud); 92.1% keep software up to date to address security vulnerabilities, and 73.3% use digital certificates for email signing or encryption.

On the other hand, 69.0% of businesses used cybersecurity specialists, and 34.2% were insured against cybersecurity incidents.

Regarding the knowledge of cybersecurity obligations, businesses declared that employees access the information mostly (by 57.6%) through voluntary courses or through information available internally.