A Trend Micro study examines the effects of cyber attacks on industrial systems. For German companies whose OT and control systems were affected by attacks, the average financial damage amounts to around 2,9 million euros.
A new study by Trend Micro, one of the world's leading providers of cyber security solutions, shows that 90 percent of German companies in the power, oil and gas supply and manufacturing sectors have been affected by cyber attacks in the last twelve months. The average damage caused by these attacks was 2,9 million euros.
After the cyber attack, the defense is improved
48 percent of the German companies surveyed state that they “always” or “usually” react to an attack by improving their cybersecurity infrastructure. Despite this, not all companies still have the resources or knowledge to protect themselves against future threats. 52 percent only react “sometimes” or “hardly.”
For German companies whose OT (operational technology) and industrial control systems were affected by cyber attacks, the average financial damage amounts to around 2,9 million euros. Compared to Japan (2,1 million euros) and the USA (2,6 million euros), the amount of damage in Germany is the highest. The oil and gas industry recorded the biggest loss. In 90 percent of German companies, the supply chain was affected in addition to core operations, so that they had to temporarily reduce deliveries or change delivery planning.
Three quarters (75 percent) of the German respondents stated that they were affected by cyber attacks on their industrial environments at least six times in the course of a year.
Other results of the study
- 41 percent of German companies were unable to fend off the initial attack.
- The two most important factors for improving cybersecurity levels are future investments in cloud systems (31 percent) and the implementation of 5G campus networks (27 percent).
- Compared to IT security, OT security is less mature in terms of risk-based threat defense.
The integration of cloud computing, edge computing and 5G into mixed IT and OT environments has fundamentally changed industrial systems and processes. Businesses should stay ahead of the curve and proactively implement security measures to protect their business assets. Improving risk and threat visibility is an important first step in securing the private network and industrial cloud.
Digitization drives security threats
“Industrial locations around the world are relying on digitization to achieve sustainable growth. However, this has led to a glut of security threats that many organizations are unaware of and which can cause major damage - both financially and reputationally," said Udo Schneider, IoT Security Evangelist Europe at Trend Micro. "In order to secure the now highly networked IT and OT environments, companies need experienced partners who have the necessary foresight and the right toolbox of solutions."
More at TrendMicro.com
About Trend Micro As one of the world's leading providers of IT security, Trend Micro helps create a secure world for digital data exchange. With over 30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and constant innovation, Trend Micro offers protection for businesses, government agencies, and consumers. Thanks to our XGen™ security strategy, our solutions benefit from a cross-generational combination of defense techniques optimized for leading-edge environments. Networked threat information enables better and faster protection. Optimized for cloud workloads, endpoints, email, the IIoT and networks, our connected solutions provide centralized visibility across the entire enterprise for faster threat detection and response.