TRENDING
in 2017, the figure increased from 36.61% in
the year’s first half to 37.75% in the second.
The most impacted countries turned out
to be Vietnam, Algeria and Sri Lanka, while
the safest region for industrial machines
was Denmark. These are among the main
findings of the Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT
report on the industrial threat landscape in
H1 2018.
Cyberattacks on industrial computers are
considered to be an extremely dangerous
threat as they cause material losses and
production downtime for a whole system.
Moreover, industrial enterprises knocked out
of service can seriously undermine a region’s
social welfare, ecology and macroeconomics.
Statistics collected by Kaspersky Lab
researchers show that this kind of threat is
of growing concern. In the first half of 2018,
41.2% of ICS computers were attacked at
least once. Moreover, this is a continuation
of a trend: in 2017, the figure increased
from 36.61% in the first half of the year to
37.75% in the second half.
Top countries by the number of ICS
computers attacked in 2018 were Vietnam,
where 75.1% of ICS computers were
attacked, Algeria, with 71.6% and Morocco
with 65%. As for the least attacked industrial
facilities, the top three countries turned
out to be Denmark with 14% attacked
computers in industrial enterprises, followed
by Ireland with 14.4% and Switzerland
www.intelligentcio.com
close behind, accounting for 15.9%.
Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America
were significantly worse off in terms of the
percentage of ICS computers attacked in
regions in H1 2018 compared to H2 2017
with Africa taking second place and the
Middle East coming in at eighth.
Within geographical regions, the figures
can vary significantly between different
countries. For example, the situation in
South Africa is the most favorable compared
to most African countries, and Kuwait was
noticeably better off than other countries in
the Middle East.
The largest number of threats come from
the Internet, which over the years has
become the main source of infection for ICS:
27% of threats are received from the World
Wide Web; while removable storage media
is ranked second with 8.4%. Mail clients
occupy third place in terms of volume – they
represent 3.8% of threats.
“The percentage of cyberattacks on ICS
computers is a concern. Our advice is to
pay attention to systems’ security from the
very beginning of their integration, when
the systems’ elements are first connected
to the Internet: neglecting security
solutions at this stage could lead to dire
consequences,” said Kirill Kruglov, security
researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT
recommends implementing the
following technical measures:
“
THE
PERCENTAGE OF
CYBERATTACKS
ON ICS
COMPUTERS IS
A CONCERN.
• Regularly update operating systems,
application software and security
solutions on systems that are part of the
enterprise’s industrial network.
• Restrict network traffic on ports and
protocols used on edge routers and inside
the organisation's OT networks.
• Audit access control for ICS components
in the enterprise’s industrial network and
at its boundaries.
• Deploy dedicated endpoint protection
solutions on ICS servers, workstations
and HMIs to secure OT and
industrial infrastructure from random
cyberattacks; and network traffic
monitoring, analysis and detection
solutions for better protection from
targeted attacks.
• Provide dedicated training and
support for employees as well as
partners and suppliers with access to
your network. n
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