How food processors can protect against cybersecurity breaches
Unreported attacks may hide the extent of the challenge
According to Verizon’s 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, 75 percent of actual breaches were caused by outsiders, and 25 percent involved internal actors, while 18 percent were conducted by state-affiliated parties, and more than half involved organized criminal groups. As many as 62 percent of breaches were caused by hacking, 51 percent included malware, 81 percent leveraged stolen and/or weak passwords, and 43 percent were social attacks.
Verizon’s statistics are based on actual events—not polls. Industrial control systems are not exempt from attacks, but with the knowledge of how attacks occur, with new tools coming onto the scene and with long-term investments in cybersecurity, processors stand a better chance of keeping their plants safely up and running.