Wolfgang Straßer estimates that more than 300,000 variants of malware are released worldwide every day. He is a security expert and advises leading international industrial companies, government agencies and intelligence services on how to avert and better prevent cyberattacks, espionage, data leaks and digital extortion.
Cyber resilience will be a key topic at XPONENTIAL Europe, which will take place in Düsseldorf from 24 to 26 March 2026. This is because autonomous systems – whether they fly, drive or swim – must be optimally protected against attacks in order to prevent damage and malfunctions.
We spoke with Straßer, founder and owner of @-yet and @yet-Industrial IT-Security about where he sees opportunities for standardising security solutions and what role the use of AI plays in this.
Mr Straßer, you deal with criminal acts committed by hackers on a daily basis and help your customers to avert or limit damage. In your experience, what motivates hackers to attack?
In general, the motivation can be divided into three main categories:
First, there are financial interests. This always boils down to extortion through ransomware, i.e. malware that is used to steal or encrypt data.
The second major area is data theft, often in conjunction with a ransomware attack. Here, the focus is on industrial espionage. State actors are increasingly involved in espionage. We are not the only ones observing ever-increasing activity from Russia and China.
The third major area is sabotage. This mainly affects companies and organisations that are part of critical infrastructure. This area is primarily associated with hybrid warfare, which has been experiencing an enormous upswing since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
You have been an expert in cybersecurity for decades. How have data security requirements changed in recent years?
Both the attackers and the attack scenarios are becoming increasingly complex and professional. In the past, cyberattacks were sporadic and more random events carried out by individuals or small groups. Today, highly professional, highly organised and, in some cases, state-supported groups are at work, operating like highly efficient companies – including distributed roles, responsibilities and specialist departments. One 'department' searches for vulnerabilities, the next writes malware to exploit them, and the third carries out the attacks. There is actually a market where security vulnerabilities and services are traded.
In addition, systems were not as interconnected in the past. This has changed fundamentally in the age of automated, highly integrated and cross-departmental processes and web-based services. The Internet of Things is also becoming increasingly prevalent. PCs, televisions, smartphones, wristwatches and even kitchen appliances are now connected to the internet. Each of these devices can become a potential gateway.
Today, companies must invest not only because of the massive increase in risk, but also because of increasing legal requirements. The GDPR, for example, requires companies to implement extensive security measures. On the one hand, of course, to protect data from unauthorised access. On the other hand, however, also to avoid the enormous fines that threaten in the event of data protection violations. And what many managers in companies are not aware of is that they are also responsible for the data security of third parties. When data is stored in the cloud, the owners of the data are obliged to regularly check the security measures taken by the cloud provider.
Another major problem for data security is the rapid development of artificial intelligence. This starts with the entry of personal data into a chatbot, which in itself is a violation of the GDPR. But malware developers are also using this technology, which is leading to an enormous acceleration in development processes. Today alone, we have over 300,000 new variants of malware every day. And we can see very clearly every day that the pace is increasing.
