(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Cyber criminals armed with new capabilities and methods are now eying attacks on large scale industrial systems such as power grids and water systems warned a group of experts assembled by Kaspersky Lab at a cyber security week-end organised here recently.
Experts hailing from the Middle East Turkey and Africa deliberated on various security threats affecting the computing systems in the region and stressed the need for robust defence mechanisms to protect the critical infrastructure of the countries. The main topic of the event was industrial cyber security an area that is becoming increasingly important especially following a series of high-profile incidents in recent years. According to Mohammad Amin Hasbini Senior Security Researcher Global Research & Analysis Team Kaspersky Lab "The threat landscape is changing along with technologies impacting new fields such as industrial infrastructures which are becoming increasingly connected. Smart cities are also developing fast with many devices web services and cloud solutions helping people businesses and governments grow further but at the same time leaving them vulnerable from a security point of view." The security risks to connected devices - from home appliances to the industrial systems used in smart cities - were discussed at length. In particular the Kaspersky Lab experts shared their research into the security issues of smart city transport infrastructure. The conference also covered instances of industrial facilities being affected by cyber threats including the recent BlackEnergy attack on a power grid as well as an attack on a Swiss water treatment facility. The data presented by the experts on various cyber security incidents presented a very grim picture of the situation. Data for January-March 2016 shows that in the Middle East Turkey and Africa an average of 45 per cent of users encountered security incidents related to local networks and removable media and 15 per cent of users faced web-related threats. The total number of cyber-incidents detected by Kaspersky Lab's products in the Middle East during the first quarter of 2016 was up 15 per cent compared to the same period of 2015; in South Africa the increase was 20 per cent while in Azerbaijan it was 4 per cent. The total number of cyber-attacks detected in Turkey during Q1 2016 was 25 per cent more than in Q1 2015. Ransomware continued to spread globally and in the region affecting both organisations and home users. The number of attacks detected and prevented by Kaspersky Lab technologies grew in all the countries of the region compared to the first quarter of 2015: in South Africa the number of ransomware incidents nearly doubled the Middle East saw an increase of 67 per cent Turkey 58 per cent and Azerbaijan 14 per cent. Growth in the use of mobile services in the region has attracted cybercriminals who are constantly refining their tools. According to Kaspersky Lab statistics for Q1 2016 a number of countries from the region appeared in the global top 20 rating of those who encountered incidents on their phones: 12 per cent of users in Egypt(13th place) 10.7 per cent in Turkey (14th place)9.4 per cent in Kenya(18th) and 9.3 per cent in Azerbaijan (20th). Cybercriminals found that mobile malware infections were most effective when they occurred via malware in mobile apps from appstores and when malware was present in the phone's initial software which was the case with a number of cheap devices. Kaspersky Lab releases new product to protect industrial systems baku (Azerbaijan) - Kaspersky Lab has released a specialised solution to secure industrial facilities. The solution addresses the urgent need to manage industrial cyber-risks and seeks to protect the field level equipment from being hijacked by the cyber criminals.
The solution - Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity - delivers a unified holistic approach to IT security for industrial facilities combining the company's leading technologies services and intelligence in one unique package.
Information technologies and process automation systems are vital to the operation of all modern industrial facilities - from power plants refineries and assembly lines to railways airports and smart buildings. Unlike traditional corporate IT networks where confidentiality is the top priority industrial control systems demand faultless continuity and consistency of the technological process. This requirement of the industrial system might make It vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Kaspersky's new solution takes all these unique requirements into account and delivers protection to the industrial network at the layers most vulnerable to cyber-attacks - ICS/SCADA servers HMI panels engineering workstations PLCs and more.
Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity has been successfully piloted and integrated in a number of projects including at the VARS petrochemical terminal in Latvia and TANECO oil refinery giant in Russia. -