March 2021

COMMENT n COVID’S HEALTHY LEGACY FOR CYBERCRIME While the pandemic has raged over the past year, cybercriminals have not been idle. In fact, they are exploiting the new opportunities that have arisen frommany employees working from home, and companies increasingly relying on digital technologies to keep their organisations running. According to one estimate, by the third quarter of 2020, a new organisation was being subjected to a ransomware attack somewhere in the world every 10 seconds. A new survey of UK manufacturers has revealed that well over half of them (58%) experienced a cyberattack during 2020 – and that’s only those who will admit it, or are aware of an attack having been perpetrated. The survey, conducted by the password management specialist Keeper security in collaboration with the Ponemon Institute, found that more than half of these incidents resulted in the theft of sensitive information about customers or employees. More than a third (38%) of the manufacturers quizzed say that the conditions created by Covid-19 made the attacks possible. While they blamed cybercriminals for most (57%) attacks, more than a third (38%) said that negligent employees or contractors were the root cause of their security issues. Many of the manufacturers (44%) accept that they did not have rigorous enough security systems in place before the arrival of Covid, and two-third (67%) admit that their IT security was not fit-for-purpose. The management consultancy Mckinsey has estimated that during 2020 digital transformation was advanced by up to seven years. What was once thought to be impractical was achieved in a fewmonths. Cybercriminals changed their tactics to take advantage of these changes. According to the security analyst Check Point, nearly a quarter of enterprises reported an increase in cyber-attacks in early 2020, with 95% admitting they faced added IT security challenges managing remote access for their employees. Another analyst, Nozomi Networks, reports that threats to industrial and critical infrastructure reached new heights during 2020, with ransomware attacks, in particular, growing in numbers, sophistication and persistence. Ransomware gangs are not only demanding payments, but they are extracting data and compromising networks for future nefarious activities. Nozomi warns that manufacturers need to act now to protect themselves against future attacks.“Urgency has never been higher,”says CEO, Edgard Capdevielle.“As industrial organisations race toward digital transformation, threat actors are taking advantage of greater OT connectivity to create attacks that aim to disrupt operations and threaten the safety, profitability and reputation of enterprises around the globe. But there are counter-measures that companies can implement.“While threats may be on the rise, the technologies and practices to defeat them are available today,”Capdevielle adds.“It’s never been more important, or more possible, to take the necessary steps to detect and defend critical infrastructure and industrial operations.” As the threat from the Covid pandemic recedes, it is leaving in its wake continuing dangers to manufacturers that fail to protect themselves against devious and ruthless cybercriminals. Tony Sacks, Editor REGISTRATION NOW OPEN https://tinyurl.com/yc3jo6db CALL FOR FUTURE PANELISTS for our online panel discussions Contact us at Drives & Controls for more information: | Andy Wylie 01732 370341 andy.wylie@dfamedia.co.uk | Damien Oxlee 01732 370342 damien.oxlee@dfamedia.co.uk 2021 Subjects & Broadcast Dates 10am UK, Tuesday January 12 Industrial Networks, IIOT and Communications* 10am UK, Tuesday March 9 Plant Safety and Security 10am UK, Tuesday May 11 Robotics & Advanced Automation 10am UK, Tuesday July 13 Maintenance 4.0 10am UK, Tuesday September 14 Digital Transformation 10am UK, Tuesday Nov 9 3D printing/Additive Manufacturing * Recordings of past panel discussions can be view online at the link above Talking Industry