Challenges of cyber security in the industrial sector

Kaspersky warns that a combination of cybercrime and traditional crimes pose a serious threat to global supply chains.
Kaspersky published its predictions 1 o the main challenges of cyber security which industrial companies will face this year.

According to him Industrial Control System Emergency Response Team (ICS CERT) From Kaspersky, the persistence of ransomware threats, the rise of hacktivism, offensive cyber security and changes in threats to the logistics and transport sectors are the most common challenges.

In 2023, Kaspersky predicted that Cyber ​​security will continue to evolve as new trends emerge. The quest for efficiency in IIoT and SmartXXX systems has driven an expanded attack surface, while rising energy supplier prices have driven up hardware costs, driving a strategic shift toward cloud services.

This analysis lays the foundation for understanding the panorama cyber security that industrial companies will face in 2024.

● Ransomware targeting large corporations. Ransomware is expected to remain a major concern for businesses. Large organizations, suppliers of basic products and leading logistics companies face each other high risks, with possible serious economic and social consequences. Kaspersky predicts that the main target of cybercriminals will be entities with sufficient resources to pay significant sums of money as ransom.

● Threats associated with logistics and transport. Rapid automation and digitization of logistics and transport introduces new challenges, combining cyber and traditional crimes, such as theft of vehicles and goods, maritime piracy and smuggling. Untargeted cyber attacks can have physical consequences, especially on river vehicles, marine vehicles and trucks.

● Hacktivism. Experts for Kaspersky predicts geopolitically motivated hacktivism will intensify. Furthermore, the rise of cosmopolitan hacktivism, such as eco-hacktivism, driven by socio-cultural and macroeconomic agendas is expected. This can contribute to a more complex and challenging threat environment.

● More subtle threats and challenges detection. It is predicted that offensive cyber security gathering information about cyber threats can have controversial consequences. For their part, for-profit cyber activities armed with commercial and open-source tools could operate with greater discretion, making them more difficult to detect and investigate.

“Cyber ​​security in the industrial sector is constantly changing, both with new types of attacks and more sophisticated versions of old ones. ANDRansomware is still a big problem and hackers They are getting better at attacking large, profitable companies with more advanced methods; Hacktivists motivated by social issues are also increasingly active, creating an increase in potential threats; and he the transport and logistics sector is particularly vulnerable to these changes due to their increasingly digital systems.

This combination of cybercrime and traditional crime poses a serious threat to global supply chains. To protect ourselves, we must prioritize cybersecurity, avoid paying ransoms, and continue to improve our defenses,” he says. Evgeny Goncharov, Head of Kaspersky ICS CERT.