Cyberattacks on industrial assets, companies fear

89% of electricity, oil and gas, and manufacturing companies have suffered cyberattacks that have affected energy production and supply in the last 12 months, as revealed by the new study of TrendMicro Incorporated.

In response to this, the company’s unified cybersecurity platform provides streamlined detection and response, adaptable to ICS and 5G, to equip organizations in the complex industrial environment where different technologies are integrated.

“Industrial hubs are going digital around the world to drive sustainable growth. But this has led to an avalanche of threats that they are not prepared to mitigate, causing significant financial and reputational damage,” said William Malik, vice president of strategy infrastructure at Trend Micro.

OT systems

The study’s conclusions come one year after the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which forced the supplier’s OT systems to be taken offline for several days, leading to major fuel shortages across the US East Coast. It remains the largest critical infrastructure (CNI) attack of its kind.

About half of the organizations in the industrial sector affected by CNI attacks have made efforts to improve cybersecurity infrastructures, but they do not always have the resources or knowledge to defend against future threats.

Cyberattacks on industrial assets cost companies millions

Of the responding organizations that experienced cyber disruptions to their operational technology and industrial control systems (OT/ICS), median financial damages amount to approximately $2.8 million, with the oil and gas sector accounting for the most suffer.

cyber attacks

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents admitted to experiencing cyber outages in their ICS/OT environments at least six times during the year. Research has also found that:

• 40% of respondents were unable to block the initial attack
• 48% of those who say they have experienced an outage do not always make improvements to minimize future cyber risks
• Future investments in cloud systems (28%) and private 5G deployments (26%) were the top two drivers of cybersecurity among respondents
• The OT security function tends to be less mature than IT on average in terms of risk-based security

The addition of cloud, edge and 5G in mixed IT and OT environments has rapidly transformed industrial operations and systems. Organizations need to get ahead and stay ahead of the curve and take security measures to protect business assets. Improving visibility into risks and threats is a first step in achieving a secure industrial cloud and private network.