The number of cyberattacks on companies and institutions in the Czech Republic rose by 4% year-on-year to 1,699 last year, while the damage reported from such attacks increased by 38% to CZK 632 million, Police President Martin Vondrasek announced at a press conference yesterday.
Over the past five years, the police have recorded more than 8,100 cyberattacks on companies and institutions, with the total damage exceeding CZK 3 billion.
According to Vondrasek, the most frequent victims of cybercrime are non-banking institutions and online shops, followed by schools and educational institutions, which became more frequent victims in 2024.
“The most common types of attacks include hacking, i.e. attacking information systems and data, and misuse of electronic means of payment. The highest damage caused is recorded at CZK 5.6 million,” he added.
In 2022, the average damage per defrauded client was estimated at around CZK 32,000, but had dropped to CZK 16,000 by last year, according to statistics from the Czech Banking Association. “This is despite the fact that the number of attacks continues to increase,” said Ales Blazek, CEO of the CSOB Group.
Cyber fraudsters are becoming more and more inventive, which is why constant caution and vigilance are needed in the online space, he warned.
Blazek said that the CSOB bank together with the Czech police had trained more than one million people in cyber security. Educational activities towards the general public will continue, he said, but at the same time, CSOB and the police and now Mastercard have set a goal of training representatives of companies, entrepreneurs, housing associations, municipalities, schools and hospitals in cyber security.
“Our goal is to prepare these groups as much as possible for the growing threats of the digital world, which are mainly caused by hackers. In total, we plan to educate 250,000 corporate clients, and we want to inspire the rest of the market,” said Blazek.
Digital trust is a key prerequisite for a functioning economy, added Jana Lvova, CEO of Mastercard for Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The results of a recent survey of IT professionals from Czech and Slovak companies found that 95% of the companies surveyed had faced a cyber attack. Last year, 54% of companies confirmed that the frequency of cyber attacks had increased. The most common types included phishing, scamming and malware, Lvova noted.
