Berlin, May 13 (IANS/DPA): The German digital association Bitkom says it has recorded an increasing number of cyber attacks from China and Russia over the past 12 months.

Within two years, a doubling of attacks from Russia has been measured, said managing director Bernhard Rohleder on Monday morning on German public broadcaster ZDF.

There was also a 50 per cent increase in the number of known incidents from China, he said. Of the companies affected, 80 per cent were targeted by attacks, such as data theft, espionage and sabotage, according to the Bitkom Director.

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Munch, plan to present the "National Situation Report on Cybercrime" for 2023 on Monday morning.

In particular, the number of offences committed from abroad or from an unknown location has been increasing for years, the BKA said in advance. This also applies to the amount of damage caused by cybercrime to companies in Germany.

"The damage is 148 billion euros ($159 billion) per year from cyber attacks alone, meaning digital attacks," said Bitkom's Rohleder. "That is a very significant amount."

Organised crime is often behind these attacks, as are foreign intelligence services, he added.

"Some are after money," Rohleder said, adding that other perpetrators want to cause as much damage as possible, such as to critical infrastructure like the energy supply or hospitals.

"And there are still some, especially private individuals, who just want to have fun," he said.