91 percent of industrial companies at risk of cyberattacks

In 2020, industrial businesses were the second most targeted, and Positive Technologies found that external attackers could breach 91 percent of corporate networks.

Positive Technologies penetration testers also gained access to 75% of these companies’ ICS networks. Theft of ICS components can cause complete production line shutdowns, equipment failures, and other serious incidents.

Olga Zinenko, the senior analyst at Positive Technologies, says, “Today, the level of cybersecurity at most industrial companies is too low for comfort. In most cases, Internet-accessible external network perimeters contain weak protection, device configurations contain flaws, and we find a low level of ICS network security and the use of dictionary passwords and outdated software versions present risks.”

An attacker can steal user credentials and gain full control of the infrastructure 100% of the time once, inside the internal network, the report shows. This includes information about partners and employees, emails, and internal documents at 69 percent of companies. And in 56% of cases, Positive Technologies specialists were able to get into actual industrial control systems.

The size, importance of business processes, and impact on the world and people’s lives of industrial companies attract attacks. The main threats to industrial companies are espionage and financial losses, the report says.

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