It ’ s not the usual case of personal and company data theft Industrial cyber attacks differ from other kinds of well-known cybercriminal activity , such as personal and corporate data breaches and loss , which can lead to reputational damage and fines . Chassar said the difference is that with the latter , there are mitigations in place . “ When personal data is breached and extracted there are mechanisms such as insurance , backup , encryption , multifactor authentication , and others that are widely implemented to help further protect that particular data ,” he says .
“ RECENT INCIDENTS HAVE SHOWN THAT WITH THE EXPANDING ATTACK SURFACE , CERTAIN TYPES OF BREACHES CAN SHUT DOWN OPERATIONS ”
SIMON CHASSAR CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER , CLAROTY
“ However , on the industrial side you are often looking at technology and systems in place which are sometimes decades old and therefore difficult , if not impossible , to update and patch . And when there is any kind of attack , processes can grind to a halt . Imagine a major car manufacturer that produces a vehicle every 50 seconds . If that is stopped for five hours , how many cars are then not produced ? On top of that , the next question to then ask is , how many people cannot earn money because they can ’ t work on making the cars ? In this respect , industrial cyber attacks can have a much more tangible impact than data breaches .”
54 September 2021