The number of Dutch companies that have fallen victim to a cyber attack or internal IT problem has dropped significantly in recent years, according to the Cybersecurity Monitor 2024 by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The financial damage per incident is also decreasing: in 2023, only one in five cyber incidents resulted in costs.
Especially larger companies are seeing a decline. In 2016, nearly 40 per cent of them still reported an external attack, by 2023 this had dropped to 16 per cent. Internal IT failures, such as system failure or software errors, still occur in about 9 per cent of companies today.
According to Statistics Netherlands, the decrease in attacks is linked to the increased use of security measures. For instance, more companies use two-step verification, have stricter password policies and have their websites checked for security leaks more often.
Still, the difference between large and small companies remains significant. While 97 per cent of large companies use two-step verification, only 57 per cent of the smallest do so. More complex measures such as data encryption or cyber insurance remain popular mainly among larger companies.