Cybersecurity
Four out of ten ICS computers are under threat
Kaspersky's latest report on cyber threats for the first half of 2019 shows that 41.2% of ICS (Industrial Control System) computers were exposed to an attack. The energy sector is most frequently affected - including by generic malware.
In addition to the energy sector, other industries were also affected: malicious objects were blocked on 39.3% of ICS computers in the automotive industry and on 37.8% in building automation. "Our report shows that security professionals should currently be on the lookout for malicious software designed to steal data, spy on critical objects, penetrate perimeters and destroy data. All of these incidents could cause major problems for the industry," says Kirill Kruglov, security researcher at Kaspersky.
Around a seventh (13.7%) of the infections in the energy sector were generic malware samples. The Kaspersky solutions most frequently hit the following malware:
- Worms (7.1%)
- Spyware (3.7 %)
- Crypto miners (2.9%)
A particular threat in the first half of the year was 'AgentTesla', a specialized Trojan spyware that steals authentication data, screenshots and data captured by the web camera and keyboard. In all the cases analyzed, the attackers sent data to various companies via manipulated mailboxes.
In addition to malware, Kaspersky products also blocked the Meterpreter backdoor, which is used to remotely control computers in industrial networks of energy systems. Attacks using backdoors are targeted, invisible and carried out manually. The ability of attackers to secretly and remotely control infected ICS computers poses a major threat to industrial systems.
Furthermore, the 'Syswin' worm, written in Python and packed into the Windows executable format, has been blocked. The worm can spread and destroy data itself - and thus have a significant impact on ICS computers.
The full report is available for download in our whitepaper section.
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