Spain suffered a few cybersecurity incidents in recent years, particularly ransomware attacks. Should you be concerned?
In this article, I will go over Spain’s cybersecurity statistics on incidents, the state of the Spanish cybersecurity market, how cybersecurity issues are impacting different organizations, and provide other relevant insights.
Top 6 Spain Cybersecurity Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- Most Spanish companies targeted in phishing attacks in 2021 have 1 to 10 employees.
- Madrid was the Spanish city most hit by DDoS attacks in 2022.
- In January 2023, the Spanish data protection authority issued 19 GPDR fines.
- A Spanish cybersecurity startup raised EUR 29 million in 2022.
- 44% of Spanish companies had fewer than five units of internal cybersecurity personnel.
- Over half of Spanish workers and companies considered cybersecurity to be a high priority in 2021.
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Spain Cybersecurity Incidents Statistics
1. 94% of Spanish companies suffered at least one serious cybersecurity incident in 2021.
68.75% of organizations in the country suffered 1 or 2 serious incidents.
25% of companies had more than 2, and only 6.25% did not suffer any.
2. Spain took 3rd place in the ranking of countries by corporate cyberattacks in 2022.
91.8% of Spanish organizations suffered a cyberattack in 2022.
The top two spots in this rating are held by Colombia (93.9% of companies) and Turkey (93.7%).
3. 71% of Spanish companies were hit by ransomware in 2021.
In 73% of the cases, the criminals succeeded in encrypting the data of attacked Spanish organizations. The average ransomware payment in Spain in 2021 amounted to $184,906.
4. 7% of blocked global RDP attacks targeted Spain in T2 2022.
There were 13 billion blocked Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) attacks in T2 of 2022.
7.3% of them were aimed towards Spain, 10.2% at the USA, and 10.8% at Poland.
5. Spain faced the most attacks exploiting the Follina vulnerability in 2022.
20% of cyberattacks exploiting the Microsoft Office Diagnostics tool vulnerability known as Follina targeted Spain. The US and UAE were subjects of 7.5% and 7.3% of these cyberattacks, respectively.
6. Most Spanish companies were affected by PII harvesting.
In 2022, 98% of Spanish organizations were concerned about the harvesting of personally identifiable information (PII). Most of them were concerned about such cyberattacks on web and mobile applications.
7. Most Spanish companies targeted in phishing attacks in 2021 have 1 to 10 employees.
49% of Spanish businesses targeted by bulk phishing attacks in 2021 had ten or fewer employees.
This table gives an overview of the percentages of Spanish businesses of different sizes that experienced cyber attacks in 2021:
| Organisation Size | Bulk Phishing Cyberattacks | Targeted Phishing Attacks | Business Email Fraud | Email-Based Ransomware Attacks | SMS Phishing Attacks | Voice Phishing Attacks | Social Media Attacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 11% | 26% | 23% | 32% | 43% | 51% | 45% |
| 1-10 | 49% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 21% | 22% | 22% |
| 11-25 | 17% | 22% | 19% | 8% | 21% | 15% | 12% |
| 26-50 | 15% | 5% | 14% | 8% | 5% | 6% | 10% |
| 51-100 | 2% | 9% | 4% | 9% | 6% | 2% | 8% |
| Over 100 | 6% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 3% |
8. 36% of Spanish businesses experienced at least one ransomware attack in 2021.
Over a third of Spanish companies experienced one to three ransomware cyberattacks in 2021, and only 18% of businesses experienced none. 8% had ten ransomware attacks or more.
9. 39% of Spanish companies that experienced a ransomware attack in 2021 paid the ransom.
42% of these companies paid the initial ransom and follow-up ransoms to get access to the data. 21% refused to make additional payments after the first one and lost their data access as a result.
10. Insurance and TMT industries suffered the highest average amounts of cybersecurity incidents in Spain.
On average, Spanish insurance companies suffered four serious cybersecurity incidents in 2021. The players in the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) industry experienced three such incidents on average that year.
The manufacturing industry companies were next, with 2.8 incidents.
11. In March 2022, Spanish energy company Iberdola suffered a major data breach.
As a result of the breach, records of 1.3 million customers were published online.
The criminals accessed user credentials but not the financial information of the company’s clients.
12. In May 2022, a hospital in the Canary Islands suffered a ransomware attack.
Ransomware gang Lockbit2.0 hit Hospital San Jose in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the spring of 2022. They leaked the records of the facility’s patients.
This group is responsible for 40.6% of all ransomware attacks in Spain.
13. Madrid was the Spanish city most hit by DDoS attacks in 2022.
Madrid suffered over 4,500 DDoS attacks. Granada and Barcelona are in second and third in terms of DDoS attacks, respectively.
14. In December 2022, the Seville Bar Association suffered a cyber attack.
The attack damaged the computer infrastructure of the organization, which provides services to 8,000 lawyers. As a result, access to databases was blocked until further notice.
15. In January 2023, the city council of Durango was hit by a cyber attack.
The city council of the Basque city of Durango suffered a cyber attack on the first weekend of 2023 of an unknown origin. As a result, many services were adversely impacted.
<p><strong>Please include attribution to vpnAlert.com with this graphic.</strong><br><br><a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spain-cybersecurity-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/durango-cyber-attack-2023.png" alt="Durango Cyber Attack" width="768" border="0" height="411.58011049724" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/durango-cyber-attack-2023-768x412.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/durango-cyber-attack-2023-300x161.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/durango-cyber-attack-2023-1024x549.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/durango-cyber-attack-2023.png 1267w" sizes="auto"></a></p>
16. Banking and manufacturing were the most “cyber incident-ready” industries in Spain in 2021.
100% of Spanish banking sector players and 88% of manufacturing companies considered themselves prepared for cybersecurity incidents in 2021.
For TMT and Consumer goods industries, the figures were 80% and 87%, respectively.
17. 321 Spanish users suffered from stalkerware attacks in 2021.
The total number of stalkerware victims in Europe was 4,236.
Spanish victims made up 7.58% of the overall amount.
18. In Q3-4 of 2021, 70.9% of Spanish Internet users encountered online fraud.
For 63.2% of these users, the fraud took form of invitations to visit suspicious websites. 46.5% received unsolicited offers to make a purchase, and a quarter of them received requests for personal data and passwords.
Spain Cybersecurity Legal Statistics & Facts
The aggregate sum of issued fines for the period was EUR 135,840.
The highest fine, EUR 56,000, was issued to Vodafone España for “insufficient legal basis for data processing.” Overall, Spain has issued more GDPR fines than any other EU country since its inception in 2018.
20. 375,506 cybercrimes were reported in Spain in 2022.
That is 70,506 more cybercrimes than in 2021. 90% of these crimes (336,778) were online scams and fraud.
21. 20% of reported crimes in Spain are committed online.
As of February 2023, one in five reported crimes in Spain is a cybercrime.
As a result, EUR 5 million will be allocated by the Secretary of State for Security to improve the police’s technical capabilities.
22. 86% of Spaniards do not know how to report cybercrimes.
As of February 2021, 77% of European residents, on average, had no knowledge about how to report cybercrime. For Spain, that figure was 9% higher.
<p><strong>Please include attribution to vpnAlert.com with this graphic.</strong><br><br><a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spain-cybersecurity-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-reporting-cybercrimes-1.png" alt="Spaniards Reporting Cybercrimes Statistics" width="768" border="0" height="411.58011049724" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-reporting-cybercrimes-1-768x412.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-reporting-cybercrimes-1-300x161.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-reporting-cybercrimes-1-1024x549.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-reporting-cybercrimes-1.png 1267w" sizes="auto"></a></p>
Spain Cybersecurity Market & Revenue Statistics
23. 100% of Spanish players in TMT, hospitality, and energy industries took out cybersecurity insurance in 2021.
All companies in these sectors took out cyber insurance in 2021 due to the high risks of incidents associated with the industries. When it came to the Spanish manufacturing industry players, 86% took out such insurance that year.
24. Cybersecurity revenue in Spain is projected to reach $4.29 billion by 2027.
The 2023 cybersecurity revenue in Spain is predicted to grow to $2.94 billion.
And the predicted growth by 2027 is thanks to the CAGR of 9.92%.
25. A Spanish cybersecurity startup raised EUR 29 million in 2022.
Huesca-based cybersecurity startup IriusRisk raised EUR 29 million in a Series A funding round. The company’s mission is to allow company teams to ensure that enterprise apps have built-in security from the start.
26. Spanish cybersecurity services market is expected to reach EUR 1.2 billion by 2024.
The highest growth in the cybersecurity market is expected to be in the services segment, with an 8.8% CAGR. The cybersecurity software segment is predicted to reach EUR 574 million by 2024, with a CAGR of 8.3%. As for the hardware segment, its CAGR is predicted to be 4.6%, and it is expected to reach EUR 239 million by 2024.
27. The network and endpoint outsourcing cybersecurity segment is forecast to reach EUR 237.2 million by 2024.
The CAGR for this segment is 12.32%.
This table specifies the forecast revenue from other cybersecurity market segments in Spain for 2024 and the corresponding CAGR:
| Type of Service | Predicted 2024 Market Size, EUR | CAGR |
|---|---|---|
| System integration | 298.53 million | 5.91% |
| Unified threat management | 174.64 million | 6.58% |
| Business consulting | 145.84 million | 9.52% |
| App management | 130.29 million | 11.85% |
| Modern endpoint | 99 million | 10.33% |
28. In Q1-Q2 of 2022, the Spanish public sector invested EUR 123.13 million in cybersecurity.
These investments are split across 351 cybersecurity projects.
The largest contributions come from the General Secretariat for Digital Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (EUR 44.06 million), AENA (EUR 19.7 million), and the IT department of the Madrid City Council (EUR 9.24 million).
Spain Cybersecurity in the Workplace - Statistics, Facts & Trends
29. As of 2021, 51% of Spanish companies had cybersecurity certifications.
The most popular certifications were ISO 27001 (held by 31% of Spanish organizations) and ISO 22301 (9%). 49% of Spanish companies had no cybersecurity certifications in 2021.
30. In 2021, 79% of Spanish companies had a cybersecurity budget of less than EUR 5 million.
Of these companies, only a quarter had a cybersecurity budget between 2-5 million EUR. 75% of them, which were predominantly companies with under ten employees, had a cybersecurity budget under EUR 2 million.
31. Cybersecurity spending made up 24% of Spanish companies’ IT budget in 2022.
The cybersecurity-allocated IT budget figure increased from 22% in 2021.
Spanish companies’ spending on cybersecurity in 2022 is on par with German, Belgian, and Dutch companies.
32. 44% of Spanish companies had fewer than five units of internal cybersecurity personnel.
In 2021, almost half of the Spanish organizations had less than 5 cybersecurity employees. 16% employed 5-10 cybersecurity people, and 14% had 10-25 cybersecurity personnel on staff. Only 9% had more than 100 internal cybersecurity staff.
<p><strong>Please include attribution to vpnAlert.com with this graphic.</strong><br><br><a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/spain-cybersecurity-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-companies-internal-cybersecurity-personnel-1.png" alt="Cybersecurity Personnel in Spanish Companies Statistics" width="768" border="0" height="411.58011049724" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-companies-internal-cybersecurity-personnel-1-768x412.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-companies-internal-cybersecurity-personnel-1-300x161.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-companies-internal-cybersecurity-personnel-1-1024x549.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spanish-companies-internal-cybersecurity-personnel-1.png 1267w" sizes="auto"></a></p>
33. 30% of Spanish companies outsourced 50% to 80% of cybersecurity work in 2021.
Almost a third of Spanish companies were outsourcing the majority of their cybersecurity work in 2021. 20% of Spanish companies outsourced almost all of it (80%), but only 11% did not outsource cybersecurity work at all.
34. 60% of Spanish companies ran at least one cyber incident simulation in 2021.
39% of all Spanish companies ran a single simulation of a cyber crisis incident in 2021. 14% did two simulations, and 8% ran them on a continuous basis.
35. Over 60% of Spanish companies that experienced a cyberattack attribute their rise to remote work.
83% of Spanish businesses that suffered a cybersecurity breach in 2021 believe that cyberattacks have become more sophisticated. 61.5% of such businesses attribute the rise of cyberattacks to more people working remotely.
36. 36% of Spanish adults were allowing other people to use their work devices to shop online in 2021.
Meanwhile, 34% of working adults in Spain let their friends and family use employer-issued devices to check emails.
Here is an overview of other activities Spanish working adults allow third parties on their work devices that can have harmful cybersecurity consequences:
| Behavior of Third Parties | Percentage of Spanish People Who Share Their Work Device for That Purpose |
|---|---|
| Social media | 29% |
| Streaming | 28% |
| Reading the news | 38% |
| Googling / Online research | 26% |
| Gaming | 22% |
| Unknown | 4% |
| None | 31% |
37. In 2021, employees of 49% of Spanish businesses received emails with untrustworthy attachments.
This year, 32% of workers in Spanish companies also received emails from someone impersonating a third party. And 19% of Spanish employees got emails from senders who were impersonating someone they knew.
38. 39% of Spanish workers got suspicious text messages, phone calls, and voicemails in 2021.
The percentage of those who got fraudulent SMS and suspicious calls and voicemails in 2021 is the same %. Additionally, 20% of Spanish workers received suspicious messages in their work messaging apps that year.
39. Over half of Spanish workers and companies considered cybersecurity to be a high priority in 2021.
53% of both Spanish companies and employees stated that cybersecurity was a high priority for them.
Less than 1% of workers said that cybersecurity was not a priority.
And 44% of those workers stated they did not need to prioritize cybersecurity, as they never experienced any issues related to it.
40. Reputational damage and operational disruptions were key cybersecurity concerns of directors of Spanish organizations.
In 2022, reputational damage was the biggest cybersecurity concern of 37% of members of boards of directors of Spanish companies. For 34% of directors, it was the resulting disruption to the operations of the companies.
Here is a breakdown of the Spanish boards of directors’ biggest cybersecurity worries compared to the global statistics.
| Board of Directors’ Primary Concern | Percentage of Spanish Directors Whom It Was a Primary Concern | Percentage of Directors Globally for Whom It Was a Primary Concern |
|---|---|---|
| Long downtime | 28% | 37% |
| Operational disruption | 34% | 36% |
| Effect on company valuation | 26% | 36% |
| Harm caused to the company’s reputation | 37% | 35% |
| Losing customers | 28% | 35% |
| Loss in revenue | 33% | 33% |
| No significant concerns | 0% | 1% |
Cybersecurity Violations From Spain - Statistics & Facts
41. In 2021, Spain was responsible for 3% of the world’s spam mail.
The largest amount of spam in 2021 originated from Russia (24.77%).
Spain was in the seventh place, with 3% of spam originating from its territory, just 0.57% behind France.
42. Spanish ransomware group Hive attacked over 1,500 businesses around the world.
Hive was a group of Spain-based criminals that offered “ransomware as a service,” which allowed affiliates to infect over 1,500 companies in more than 80 countries with ransomware. The companies lost over EUR 500 million to the group.
In January 2023, the Spanish police, together with the FBI and the German police, dismantled the Hive group after two years of investigations.
Are Cybersecurity Incidents a Major Issue in Spain?
Judging by Spain’s cybersecurity statistics, cybercrime, malware, and ransomware are significant issues in the Iberian country. Many organizations have experienced cyberattacks of this sort, but many of them are taking the issue more and more seriously.
The best way to protect yourself against cybersecurity incidents is to stay on top of what is happening in the industry and to be proactive, not reactive. Check our article on cybersecurity statistics – it’s a great starting point!
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