Cyber attacks against Maltese businesses are on the rise, with a significant number reporting corruption or theft of data, according to an EU-wide survey.

The survey shows that as Maltese businesses become more and more dependent on computer technology, attempts from outside to hack into their systems and obtain confidential information have increased to a level above the EU average.

While last year, seven per cent of companies in Malta said they had suffered destruction or corruption of data due to malicious software infection or unauthorised access, the average among their counterparts in the EU was only five per cent.

Perhaps more seriously, two per cent of local companies said they had not been able to stop these attacks and their data had been “stolen”. This was twice the average in the EU where only one per cent of companies reported attacks of this gravity.

Maltese businesses seem to be very aware of the significant attempts by hackers to access their information, with 52 per cent of respondents, including banks and financial institutions, saying they had introduced rigid security features into their ICT systems including strong passwords and hardware tokens to protect their data.

Eurostat did not say how many Maltese companies took part in the survey, although an official told The Times that the number was “significant and included a wide range of companies in the manufacturing and services industries”.

The survey results demonstrate the role that ICT has come to play for local companies, with 94 per cent of Maltese respondents saying they have internet access and 91 per cent using broadband technology, which compares favourably with the 85 per cent average in the EU. Mobile broadband technology is also on the rise – 28 per cent of Maltese companies are already making use of it.

In the EU as a whole, the types of incident most commonly reported by enterprises were those resulting in an unavailability of ICT services and destruction or corruption of data due to hardware or software failures. The countries with the highest reported levels of such incidents were Cyprus, Portugal and Finland (each with 26 per cent of enterprises), Denmark (24 per cent), and Greece (23 per cent). In Malta, the figure was 14 per cent.

The highest proportions of enterprises reporting ICT incidents resulting in the destruction or corruption of data due to malicious software infection or unauthorised access were registered in Slovakia (16 per cent), Portugal (14 per cent) and Spain (11 per cent).