Cybersecurity company Kaspersky has determined the major components contributing to highly developed persistent danger (APT) attacks in industrial sectors.
The initially of them, reviewed in a new report published these days, is the absence of isolation in operational technology (OT) networks.
Kaspersky gurus have noticed occasions the place engineering workstations are related to the IT and OT networks. This dependence on network configuration for isolation can be manipulated by experienced attackers, allowing them to take care of malware site visitors or infect seemingly isolated networks.
“In circumstances exactly where the OT networks’ isolation only relies on the configuration of networking equipment, knowledgeable attackers can usually reconfigure that machines to their advantage,” explained Evgeny Goncharov, head of the industrial command programs cyber crisis response staff at Kaspersky.
The human issue also continues to be a substantial driver of cyber-criminal routines in industrial configurations, in accordance to the report, with staff or contractors regularly remaining offered entry to OT networks without suitable consideration to information and facts security steps.
Distant administration instruments, this sort of as TeamViewer or Anydesk that had been supposed to be short-term may possibly continue on to operate unnoticed, earning it easy for attackers to acquire entry.
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Kaspersky’s investigations also highlighted cases the place disgruntled personnel or contractors with OT network accessibility have attempted to bring about harm.
Inadequate security of OT property further amplifies these hazards, as malware can distribute more simply when security solutions have outdated databases, security components are disabled and there are way too lots of exclusions from scanning and security.
Insecure configuration of security methods also plays a important position in APT attacks, as does the absence of cybersecurity defense in OT networks and the incapability to preserve industrial workstations and servers up to day.
“In some circumstances, updating the server’s operating system may involve updating specialized software package […] which in switch demands upgrading the devices – that all may well be also costly. Consequently, there are outdated techniques uncovered on industrial control system networks,” Goncharov extra.
“Surprisingly, even internet-dealing with systems in industrial enterprises, which can be reasonably simple to update, can stay susceptible for a extended time. This exposes the operational technology […] to attacks and major pitfalls, as authentic-entire world attack situations have demonstrated.”
The Kaspersky report arrives a couple of months right after a different investigation analyze from the enterprise instructed two out of every single 5 (40.6%) OT desktops utilized in industrial configurations ended up impacted by malware in 2022.
Some parts of this article are sourced from:
www.infosecurity-magazine.com
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