Google Threat Intelligence Group — Europe Data Leak Landscape 2025 (Germany dominant, 96% of victims <5,000 employees)

GTIG's Europe data-leak landscape analysis (published 2026-04-15, first covered 2026-05-07) is the second-tier annual reference that materially affects DACH defender posture and merits cross-week synthesis: Germany is the primary European ransomware target with SAFEPAY accounting for 25% of German data-leak-site posts (76 victims claimed in 2025), Qilin tripling operational tempo in Germany during Q3 2025 with 13 additional German victims posted by early 2026 (Die Linke this week confirms continued activity into 2026-W19), and Sarcoma actively recruiting German network access via criminal forums since November 2024. 96% of German ransomware victims are organisations with fewer than 5,000 employees — exploited both directly and as supply-chain footholds into larger enterprises and government contractors; legal and professional services rose to 14% of victims — explicitly relevant to Swiss / EU public-sector procurement officers since those firms hold client IP and M&A intelligence. GTIG attributes part of the shift to AI-enabled high-quality localisation eroding the language-barrier protection that historically benefited non-English-speaking markets (daily 2026-05-07).