Industrial companies in the Middle East facing risk of cyberattacks, Booz Allen Hamilton said in its recent report titled ‘Industrial Cybersecurity Threat Briefing’.
Booz Allen Hamilton, the global consulting and technology firm, highlighted the most significant threats to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) in 2016 and 2017, and noted the most effective measures to counter them.
‘These systems control and automate significant portions of our connected lives today, and impact industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, energy and petrochemicals, among others’, it said.
In a 2015 survey of 314 organisations operating ICS around the world, 20% of whom are based in the Middle East, over 100 respondents indicated that their control systems were breached more than twice in the last 12 months.
Industrial Control Systems are unique in terms of cybersecurity, as the systems sit at the intersection of the digital world and the real world, where cyberattacks can cause physical destruction and even death.
Recent statistics continue to drive home the seriousness of industrial cybersecurity: across sectors and industries, average annual losses to companies worldwide from cyber-attacks now exceed $7.7mn according to the Ponemon Institute.
Industrial sectors such as energy, manufacturing, utilities and transportation are amongst the most at risk. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has reported more than 800 cybersecurity incidents globally since 2011, with most occurring in the energy sector.
Cyberattacks against oil and gas firms in the Middle East made up more than 50% of registered occurrences in the region, according to Repository of Industrial Security Incidents (RISI) data.
Conversely, in the US and other Western countries, they account for fewer than 30% of recorded instances.
“The path to success lies in ensuring a comprehensive approach that enables stakeholders to collaborate in addressing shared, multidimensional cyber issues,” Mahir Nayfeh, senior vice-president at Booz Allen Hamilton, said.
“Mitigating risk requires more than just tuning firewalls and applying patches; it also involves investing in human capital, and training on policies and procedures,” Nayfeh said.
