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Industrial control systems most targeted by cyberattacks

According to Kaspersky ICS CERT, in the second half of 2022, Kaspersky security solutions globally blocked 6% more malware families on industrial automation systems than in the first half of the year and 147% more than in the second half of 2021.

Compared to other regions, the Middle East remains highly targeted by ransomware attacks and is among the top three regions ranked by the percentage of industrial control systems (ICS) which were attacked using removable media – USB flash drives or hard drives. Africa tops the regional rankings with most ICS computers targeted using removable devices. In Turkiye throughout 2022 there was an increase in attacks blocked in multiple industries, including building automation, energy and engineering.

In the second half of 2022 in Africa, the percentage of ICS computers on which spyware was blocked was 12%, which was the highest figure for any region of the world. In terms of other malware categories blocked on ICS in Africa, malicious scripts and deny-listed internet resources top the list with 14% and 13,2% attacks stopped. Malicious scripts and phishing pages (JavaScript and HTML) are distributed both online and via email. A significant part of deny-listed internet resources are used to send out malicious scripts and direct to phishing pages.

Other categories of malicious objects that were blocked on ICS computers in Africa include worms (7,1%), malicious documents (5%) and viruses (4,8%).

“Overall, 2022 stands out for its abnormal absence of any seasonal changes. Our team observed a steady high rate of attacks on industrial sectors – without a typical drop in attacks during the European summer vacations or winter holidays period. However, the growing attack rates in industrial sectors, that are being conducted using social engineering, seem alarming. We strongly recommend customers in these sectors to revise their existing approach to security and check whether all security systems are up-to-date, and that their personnel are well-trained,” comments Kirill Kruglov, Senior Researcher at Kaspersky ICS CERT.

Read more about the ICS threat landscape in H2 2022 at https://ics-cert.kaspersky.com/publications/reports/2023/03/06/threat-landscape-for-industrial-automation-systems-statistics-for-h2-2022/

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