More than 89% of electricity, manufacturing, oil and gas companies have experienced cyberattacks in the last 12 months, according to Trend Micro Incorporated's research published in Cyber Security Connect.
The research highlights the impact of threats to industrial control systems (ICS) / operational technology (OT) environments that led to major fuel shortage, due to the vendor's OT system to go offline for several days. This is the biggest critical infrastructure attack (CNI) of its kind.
This research was compiled using 900 responses from ICS cyber security leads in Germany, the US, and Japan's manufacturing, oil and gas, and electricity industry.
In an interview with Trend Micro's Mick McCluney, he raised that industrial locations going digital to drive sustainable growth have opened up a deluge of threats, which they are unable to mitigate, causing major financial and reputational damage.
Even after making efforts to improve cyber security infrastructures, around half of the vendors affected by CNI attacks lack the necessary resources or knowledge to defend against future threats.
Furthermore, 72% of respondents admit that they experienced cyber disruptions at least six times during the year.
The Trend Micro research also found that:
- 40% of respondents could not block the initial attack;
- 48% of those who say there have been some disruptions do not always make improvements to minimize future cyber risks; and
- future investments in cloud systems (28%) and private 5G deployments (26%) were the top two drivers of cyber security among respondents.
Ultimately, every company/business, big or small, need to stay ahead of the curve and implement security measures to protect their assets.
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