Skip to main content

IoT and OT malware saw a huge rise in 2023

Malware attacks against Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technology (OT) devices have increased four-fold in a year as criminals demonstrate persistence and the ability to adapt to evolving conditions, new research has claimed.

The ZscalerTM ThreatLabz 2023 Enterprise IoT and OT Threat Report, based on an analysis of some 300,000 blocked attacks on IoT devices in a six-month period, shows just how relentless cyberspace threat actors are.

As per the report, the attackers are going mostly for legacy vulnerabilities. Out of the 39 most popular IoT exploits, 34 abused flaws that have existed in these devices for at least three years. In two-thirds of all attacks (66%), the threat actors would try to deploy Mirai and Gafgyt, popular malware families that assimilate vulnerable devices into a botnet which can later be used for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. 

Manufacturing and retail

Botnet-driven DDoS attacks cause “billions of dollars” in financial losses across industries, around the world, the report claims. Furthermore, by DDoSing OT devices, critical industrial processes can be disrupted, possibly even putting human lives at risk.

More than half of IoT device traffic comes from manufacturing and retail companies (52%), with 3D printers, geolocation trackers, industrial control devices, automotive multimedia systems, data collection terminals, and payment terminals sending the majority of signals over digital networks. 

At the same time, the manufacturing sector experiences 6,000 IoT malware attacks every week, on average. Another sector that can’t catch its breath due to a constant barrage of malware attacks is education. This is mostly because the education industry stores vast amounts of sensitive information that cybercriminals can leverage in different ways. IoT malware attacks in the education sector increased by nearly 1000%, the report claims.

Most infections for the year - 46% - happened in Mexico, followed by Brazil and Colombia (in no particular order). Almost all of the IoT malware (96%) is distributed from compromised IoT devices in the United States.

More from TechRadar Pro



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TechRadar's Year in Review: AI revolution, smartphone evolution, and visions of the future

If I had to sum up 2023 in one word it would be AI. Okay, technically that’s two initials, but let’s not quibble – because there’s no doubt that it provided the year in tech with its main story arc. Artificial intelligence was everywhere this year, as every company in the world gawped at the massive impact of ChatGPT, and decided they wanted to jump aboard that bandwagon. You could barely move for new chatbots, new image generators, and new AI-enhanced features in every device released in 2023. And there’s no sign of that changing in 2024; in fact, we expect it to be an even bigger deal. Elsewhere, phones and laptops did much the same as they had the previous year – well, except where they had new AI-enhanced features – so it was in the virtual reality space where bigger changes were afoot. If the Meta Quest 3 was impressive then the Apple Vision Pro looks to be genuinely game-changing, and we can’t wait to see what impact it has in the next 12 months. Of course we also saw plenty ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Microsoft and Sony enter "binding agreement" to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation

Microsoft has announced that it has reached a "binding agreement" with Sony, pledging to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.  With Microsoft having won its anti-trust case with the US Federal Trade Commission , its planned acquisition of Call of Duty developers Activision Blizzard has taken a big step closer to becoming a reality. In order to alleviate the concerns of monopoly-building that got Microsoft in legal hot water to begin with, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, announced yesterday via Tweet that it has entered into an "agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation."  This agreement will no doubt come as a relief to fans concerned that Microsoft's acquisition plans might result in Call of Duty becoming an Xbox exclusive, following in the footsteps of future Bethesda releases. Since Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda caused the studio to break its tradition of offering titles cross-platform for upcomi...
Post a Comment
Read more

This Stardew Valley-like farming sim plays at the bottom of your screen so you work and play at the same time

Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing are among some of the best choices out there if you're looking for a game to get swept up in for hours at a time. But, if you're a fan of management sims and a multitasker as well, this upcoming farming sim will likely pique your interest.  Developed by Mister Morris Games, Rusty's Retirement is an idle-farming simulation game that runs at the bottom of your gaming monitor, allowing you to focus on other tasks like working while you tend to your crops. Set to release in Q1 2024 on Steam , the idle sim puts you in the shoes of a wholesome robot as you grow crops and use them to produce clean and energy-efficient biofuel. Having gathered this "vital robot power source," you'll then need to sell your harvest to the other machine inhabitants of your settlement. This, in turn, will let you reinvest the money into expanding your farm. If you're a terrible procrastinator (like me) this might not sound like your cup of tea...
Post a Comment
Read more