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Cities, industrial infrastructure need protection as connectivity rises

6th May 2016

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The threat landscape is changing, along with technologies, impacting on new fields, such as industrial infrastructure, which is becoming increasingly connected.

Smart cities are also developing fast through connected devices, Web services and cloud solutions, but these are also making cities vulnerable in terms of security, says Kaspersky Lab Global Research & Analysis Team senior security researcher Mohammad Amin Hasbini.

The security risks of connected devices – from home appliances to industrial systems used in smart cities – are highlighted by the company’s cyberthreat research.

“The field research focused on a specific type of road sensor that gathers information about traffic flows, and found that the data gathered and processed by these sensors can be compromised. The research complements the work Kaspersky Lab is conducting together with Securing Smart Cities, a nonprofit global initiative that aims to solve existing and future cybersecurity problems of smart cities,” he explains.

The research also investigated instances of industrial facilities being affected by cyberthreats, including the recent BlackEnergy attack on a power grid in Ukraine, as well as an attack on a Swiss water-treatment facility.

The Latvian acrylonitrile VARS petrochemicals sterminal uses Kaspersky Lab to protect its industrial network. As operations at VARS involve the handling of hazardous toxic materials, it is very important to eliminate any human error. Operational processes are, therefore, automated and managed by an industrial control system.

“Because of this reliance on automation, information security is critical. A random virus attack or internal security breach might present a threat not only to the business itself but also to employees and the environment, as the company is located only 120 m from the Baltic Sea and very close to the populated area of Ventspils, says VARS technical director Roman Yanukovich.

VARS continuously monitors the evolution of the cyberthreat landscape and it was realised that it is an increasingly vulnerable target for attack.

“The stable running of the shipment terminal is essential to the business. If the VARS terminal stops operating, this could disrupt the normal functioning of the plant, which would cause significant financial losses and technology problems associated with the restarting of the chemicals facility.”

An information technology security breach could severely disrupt and disable VARS’s auto-mated operations, with severe implications for the port’s commercial viability, the safety of employees and the population of the nearby town of Ventspils, as well as a risk of contamination of the Baltic Sea, he emphasises.

Meanwhile, ransomware continued to spread globally, affecting organisations and individuals. The number of attacks prevented by Kaspersky Lab technologies increased in all the countries of the region, compared with the number of attacks in the first quarter of 2015. In South Africa. ransomware incidents have nearly doubled, while there has been a 67% increase in attacks in the Middle East, 58% in Turkey and 14% in Azerbaijan.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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