With the digitalisation of industrial infrastructure underway, 55 per cent of organisations are confident that the Internet of Things (IoT) will change the state of security in industrial control systems (ICS).

A report from Kaspersky revealed that 20 per cent of organisations have already prioritised IoT-related incidents, although effective solutions against IoT threats are not yet widespread.

For one in five companies, attacks on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) have already become one of their main cyber security concerns, bypassing data breaches (15 per cent) or attacks on the supply chain (15 per cent).

The report also showed that not all organisations are ready to face threats to IoT. Only 19 per cent of companies have implemented active network and traffic monitoring, while just 14 per cent have introduced network anomaly detection to track malicious activity in IoT systems.

“While industrial enterprises will only increase the implementation of connected devices and smart systems, they should strive for the same efficiency level when it comes to protection,” said Grigory Sizov, head of the KasperskyOS business unit. “To achieve this, protection should be built-in when a project is initiated, and for some companies, it should be done today.”

Commenting on the report, Nozomi Networks co-founder Andrea Carcano said that the findings echo what they have been seeing now for some time. “IoT devices - and 5G mobility - are becoming key drivers and critical considerations in their digital transformation,” he stated.

Juniper Research recently predicted that there will be 83 billion IoT connections by 2024 – 70 per cent of which will be in the industrial sector.

“Traditional on-premises approach won’t scale, either in terms of being able to add thousands (or more) IoT devices quickly in a single plant facility, production line or analyse the volume of data that those devices will generate,” added Carcano.

Share Story: