"Rise in Attacks on ICS Computers in Second Half of 2020"

Researchers from Kaspersky have discovered that attacks on industrial control system (ICS) computers went up by .85 percentage points in H2 of 2020 compared to H1.  The researchers also found that the variety of malware families targeting ICS computers increased by 30% in this period, with cyber-criminals significantly ramping up attacks against these sectors amid the COVID-19 lockdowns.  Compared to H1, in the engineering and ICS integration sector, the proportion of ICS computers attacked grew by nearly eight percentage points to 39.3%.  The proportion of ICS computers attacked in the building automation sector saw an increase of 46.7%, and the proportion of ICS computers attacked in the oil and gas sector grew by 44%. Of the countries the researchers examined, they found that 62% experienced a growth in the percentage of ICS computers targeted. The researchers also discovered that the proportion of ICS computers on which malicious email attachments were blocked went up by 73.4%.  The most commonly employed malware were backdoors, spyware, other types of Trojans, and malicious scripts and documents.

Infosecurity reports: "Rise in Attacks on ICS Computers in Second Half of 2020"