Cybercrime and companies in France - statistics & facts

Cyber crime is a growing security threat for organizations in France. As of 2023, around 30 percent of companies in France claimed to have experienced one to three cyber attacks in the last 12 months. Furthermore, around a quarter of surveyed organizations noticed an increase in the number of cyber attacks within one year, as 64 percent said the number had remained stable, while only 12 percent of firms saw a decrease in the cyber attack count.

Common types of cyber attacks in France

Around three in four organizations in France encountered the most common way of malware delivery, phishing, as well as spear phishing. Vulnerability exploitation was the second-most frequently detected cyber crime at French companies, with almost half of them experiencing it. Furthermore, presidential fraud was common for around four in ten organizations in the country.


Ransomware encounters at French companies

In 2023, the share of companies in France having encountered ransomware attacks has decreased slightly year-over-year, from 73 to 64 percent. This dynamic is seen in companies across the globe and security professionals believe this to be linked to the socio-political turmoil that has been going on worldwide since the beginning of 2022 . Following a ransomware attack, some organizations agree to pay the ransom immediately to restore the stolen data and potentially keep the attack a secret to avoid penalties and reputational damage. However, a significant part of the surveyed organizations in France stated running backups to decrypt data. French enterprises in the services industry reported the highest share of detected ransomware attacks where the target company did not make the ransom payment.

Most frequently targeted industries in France

As of October 2022, among the examined industries in France, the production sector saw the highest share of cyber crime encounters, 14 percent, with two percent claiming to have experienced multiple attacks. Meanwhile, most organizations across industries in the country claimed not to be concerned about cyber attacks, and only around three in 10 organizations in the production and services sector said they were worried about the possible risk of a cyber attack.

Consequences of cyber crime for French companies

Among the most common consequences of cyber attacks in France were data theft and identity theft, with more than three in ten organizations experiencing it. But often, especially in the cases of ransomware attacks, threat actors use multiple attack techniques at once to weaken the target organization. For example, some ransomware actors deploy distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks following the ransomware attack to make the organization communicate with them sooner and pay the ransom. Experiencing all together at once leads to much more significant losses. In 2022, cyber crime costs in France amounted to nearly 67 billion U.S. dollars. In 2023, this figure is estimated to amass 93 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, globally, the monetary damage caused by cyber crime was around seven trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, estimated to reach 8.15 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023.

Smaller organizations are at a higher risk

In France, 23 percent of small and medium-sized organizations (SMEs) with 200 to 249 employees reported encountering a cyber incident. About two in ten organizations with up to 199 employees also stated being hit by a cyber attack. Although small businesses worldwide consider cyber crime a leading risk, they were less likely to consider it a major issue than large and mid-size companies. This is due to the belief of small-sized company leaders that they are not attractive enough for threat actors. Based on that, they do not dedicate enough financial resources to cyber security. As a result, security flaws in these organizations are easy to find and target. Between November 2021 and October 2022, small businesses worldwide saw 694 cyber incidents, compared to 489 incidents targeting large businesses worldwide.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Ani Petrosyan, Mar 22, 2024

Key insights

Annual cost of cyber crime in France
93.46 billion USD
Most frequently detected type of cyber attack in France
Phishing and spear phishing
Industry most targeted by cyber attacks
Production
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