Cybercriminals have proven that they are more\nthan ready to strike critical infrastructure, with potential examples of\ncyberattacks ranging from power facilities, transport systems and manufacturing\nplants, to water treatment facilities and defence systems, coming to the fore. It\nis clear that the chances of a cyber-related operational breakdown are higher\nthan ever before, meaning that the time to broaden our understanding of\nrelevant cybersecurity issues for industrial control systems and operational\ntechnology (OT) is now \u2013 we need to realise that it can happen to us and how to take the necessary steps to prevent\nthese compromises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is according to Barak Perelman, CEO and co-founder of Indegy, a leader in industrial cybersecurity that protects industrial control system networks from cyberthreats, human error and malicious insiders. Indegy solutions are now brought to South Africa and throughout Africa by African value-added distributor, Networks Unlimited Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndegy undertakes to protect industrial\ncontrol systems from external cyberthreats, malicious insiders and human error,\nand all three areas of protection are just as important to our users,\u201d said\nPerelman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are very used to thinking about the\npossibility of external cyberthreats, and yet we have found that the most\ncommon cyber incidents come from within an organisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese in turn can be broken down into the\nmalicious attack, and operational breakdowns caused by human error. Of these,\nhuman error is the most common \u2013 we are aware that industrial systems often use\nold technology, and this allows for more room for mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs far as intentional insider threats are\nconsidered, reasons for these can range from disgruntled employees or former staff\nmembers with an axe to grind, to people wanting to earn overtime and setting up\nthe system for failure in order to return for additional work, and thus extra\npayment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExternal threats, including malware, are in\nour experience the least common cyberthreat to industrial infrastructure, but\nthey bring the most risk potential. Human errors, which bring more delicate\nsystem failures, usually result in shorter downtime than external threats. In\ncomparison, a well-planned cyberattack will usually cause a lot more damage,\nwhich can include physical damages, financial costs and reputational threats\nfor the business.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stefan van de Giessen, General Manager: Cybersecurity at Networks\nUnlimited Africa, added: \u201cIn the\npast decade or so, factors such as the rapid introduction of the Industrial\nInternet of Things (IIot) connectivity across production and supply lines, and\nthe way in which OT is automating the modern world, have opened up new\nvulnerabilities for industrial infrastructure. With the boundaries between IT and OT blurring,\nindustrial infrastructure operations are now no longer stand-alone operations,\nbut part of the connected, online world. These new vulnerabilities to both cyberattack\nand also cyber error mean, in turn, that cybersecurity has become critical for\nthese systems.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany industrial operations are running on old\ncontrol systems and are very vulnerable to today\u2019s cybercriminals,\u201d said Perelman.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI believe there are two main reasons why\nindustrial technology operators are not paying more attention to cybersecurity,\nand these are a lack of knowledge and education around the risk to critical\ninfrastructures, as well as the rapid pace of change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe cyber risk to critical infrastructure is a\nrelatively new challenge. If we look at the situation five to 10 years ago,\nmany of these systems were completely disconnected from the outside world \u2013 IoT\ntechnology was not yet in play and the systems were limited to operation within\nthe company\u2019s network. With the rapid pace of change, security operators did\nnot always give much thought to cyber implications and were unaware of the\ngrowing risks. This has begun changing in recent years and OT security\noperators now understand that their operational technologies are connected to the\noperation\u2019s IT systems or main network.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perelman also extends a cautionary note to\nsovereign states, noting, \u201cEducation is key. \u201cGovernments need to make sure\nthat those in charge of industrial infrastructure in their countries are aware\nof the evolution of the cyberthreat landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCriminals today are no longer just targeting\nfinancial services \u2013 the 2015 attack in the Ukraine, when hackers took control\nof the country\u2019s power grid and plunged over 225,000 homes and businesses into\ndarkness for hours, is proof of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe attack was widely regarded as being the\nfirst example of hackers shutting off critical energy systems and was followed\na year later by another attack that cut power hundreds of thousands of\nresidents in the country\u2019s capital, Kiev. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGovernments therefore need to encourage the\nadoption of new knowledge in order to protect their power and water supplies, oil\nand gas operations, manufacturing plants, transport systems and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He believes that Africa as a region is quite\nvulnerable to critical industry attack, explaining, \u201cAfrica overall shows very\nfast adoption rates of new technology. This integration of new technology means\nthat older facilities – once outside the reach of the internet and the world – are\nnow open to threat. While internet-enabled communications allow for remote\naccess and more efficiencies, the core message is the same: the risk is\nincreased. We therefore need to bear this in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndegy chose to partner with Networks\nUnlimited Africa to bring our solutions into sub-Saharan Africa, because we\nhave found in them a local partner that is familiar with the region and its\nbest business practices, across several key industrial markets. We were also\nimpressed with the company\u2019s approach, which is not only about cybersecurity,\nbut also about guiding end users through the entire IT lifecycle, including\ndigital adoption. In Networks Unlimited Africa we have found a partner that\nunderstands the entire landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perelman extends a reminder that attitudes need\nto change. \u201cPeople too often believe that \u2018It won\u2019t happen to us \u2013 but it can\u2019,\u201d\nhe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe world is used to thinking about the classic\nexternal cyberattack, and yet, when we ask our customers, \u2018when did you last\nexperience down time because of a person?\u2019 we find that everyone has an\nincident to report within the last year or so, due to human error. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCybersecurity for operational technology is\nnot only about external attacks, but also about insider threats and human error.\nOT operators, companies and governments need to understand the necessity of\nadopting the correct cybersecurity tools in order to holistically cover all\neventualities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cybercriminals have proven that they are more than ready to strike critical infrastructure, with potential examples of cyberattacks ranging from power facilities, transport systems and manufacturing plants, to water treatment facilities and defence systems, coming to the fore. It is clear that the chances of a cyber-related operational breakdown are higher than ever before, meaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":28986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,5,6,13],"tags":[11051,859,449,388,2285,11052,4840,101,10479,9352,9353,453,10478],"class_list":["post-28985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-enterprise-security","category-insights","category-top-stories","tag-barak-perelman","tag-cyberattacks","tag-cybercriminals","tag-cybersecurity","tag-iiot","tag-indegy","tag-industrial-internet-of-things","tag-malware","tag-networks-unlimited-africa","tag-operational-technology","tag-ot","tag-south-africa","tag-stefan-van-de-giessen"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}