"Critical Infrastructure Cyberattacks Signaling The Importance of Prioritizing Security"
Researchers at Armis released new data uncovering the lack of knowledge and general awareness of major cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and an understanding of security hygiene. During a new survey of over 2,000 respondents from across the United States, researchers found that end users are not paying attention to the significant attacks plaguing operational technology and critical infrastructure across the country, signaling the importance of businesses prioritizing a focus on security as employees return to the office. In the past year, 65,000 ransomware attacks occurred in the United States. In other words, approximately 7 attacks per hour, which is expected to continue to rise. Over 21% of respondents have not even heard about the cyberattack on the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, and 45% of working Americans did not hear about the attempted tampering of Florida’s water supply. The researchers stated that the severity of the cyberattacks on critical infrastructure is not sticking. Despite the complete shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline following the attack and the halting of production at JBS, consumers don’t see the lasting effects of these attacks. Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents believe that the Colonial Pipeline attack will not have any long-lasting impact on the U.S. fuel industry. The researchers believe that healthcare could be the next frontier for hackers. More than half (63%) of healthcare delivery organizations have experienced a security incident related to unmanaged IoT devices over the past two years. The data from the survey shows that when it comes to device security, over 60% of healthcare employees believe that their personal devices do not pose any security threat to their organization, and 26% even said that their companies do not have any policies in place to secure both work and personal devices.