Assaults on industrial management system (ICS) computer systems went up by .85 share factors in H2 of 2020 in comparison with H1, in keeping with new analysis from Kaspersky.
The evaluation additionally discovered that the number of malware households concentrating on ICS computer systems elevated by 30% on this interval, with cyber-criminals considerably ramping up assaults towards these sectors amid the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Whereas industrial organizations have historically been a horny goal for malicious actors because of the extremely delicate knowledge they maintain, Kaspersky famous a decline within the proportion of ICS computer systems on which malicious objects have been detected from the second half of 2019. Nevertheless, this pattern modified within the second half of 2020, with COVID-19 doubtless altering the techniques employed by cyber-criminals.
In comparison with H1, within the engineering and ICS integration sector, the proportion of ICS computer systems attacked grew by practically eight share factors to 39.3%, whereas there was an increase of practically seven share factors in constructing automation, reaching 46.7%. There was a 6.2 share rise in oil and fuel discovered, that means the proportion of ICS computer systems on this sector focused was 44%.
Moreover, the researchers revealed that 62% of the international locations they examined skilled a development within the share of ICS computer systems focused, whereas the proportion of ICS computer systems on which malicious electronic mail attachments have been blocked went up in 73.4% of nations.
Probably the most generally employed malwares have been backdoors, adware, different varieties of Trojans and malicious scripts and paperwork.
Evgeny Goncharov, head of ICS CERT at Kaspersky, commented: “2020 was an uncommon yr in practically all features, and this seems to have led to some uncommon developments throughout the ICS menace panorama. We usually see a decline within the share of ICS computer systems attacked in the summertime months and December as folks go on vacation. Nevertheless, with borders closed and international locations on lockdown, it’s doubtless many didn’t take their trip, and we didn’t see any noticeable lower.
“As well as, whereas ransomware assaults declined globally, in developed international locations, such because the US and Western Europe, the variety of assaults truly considerably improve, maybe as a result of, amidst the present financial downturn, criminals thought these locations had companies with the means to truly pay. With the pandemic nonetheless ongoing, will probably be necessary that each one industries take additional precautions; with the remainder of the world in flux, it’s arduous to foretell what cyber-criminals will do.”
