Source: ETtech
Manufacturing industry faced the highest number of security threats, according to the Seqrite Threat Report Q1 2019.
The sector accounted for more than 27% of the threats detected by Seqrite between January and March 2019 – the highest of all industries. The report was released by Seqrite, a provider of endpoint security, network security, enterprise mobility management, and data protection solutions.
Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, Quick Heal Technologies Limited said, “Ensuring robust digital security for their IT systems as well as the connected devices used in manufacturing processes has remained quite low on the list of priorities. This imbalance is becoming a major challenge for the industry.”
At present, the Indian manufacturing sector is vulnerable to threats from cybercriminals looking to make financial gains, corporate espionage by competitors looking to gain competitive advantage, and/or state-sponsored threat actors looking to cause widespread economic disruption, he added.
With global manufacturers expected to invest around $70 billion on industrial IoT solutions in 2020, the growing integration of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) presents a major security risk.
Manufacturers also risk their intellectual properties (IP) such as new technologies or products, confidential designs, and manufacturing processes, highlights the report. These IPs can then be sold to potential buyers, including competitors, or heavily advertised across the Dark Web.
The other industries that are high at risk, according to the report include Professional Services and Education during Q1 2019. Seqrite detected more than 28 million malware threats in Q1 2019 across enterprise endpoints, translating to around 216 threats per minute.