KSA Business: Ransomware attacks acute in Saudi Arabia: KPMG – Gulf Digital News

  • Date: 12-Oct-2021
  • Source: Gulf Daily News
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:Saudi Arabia
  • Who else needs to know?

KSA Business: Ransomware attacks acute in Saudi Arabia: KPMG – Gulf Digital News








The frequency of cyberattacks on industrial operations has increased in recent years, with ransomware attacks particularly acute in Saudi Arabia, according to KPMG's latest publication on Industrial cyber defence.





 





The estimated costs of these ransomware attacks have skyrocketed — climbing from $8 billion in 2018 to $11.5 billion in 2019 and hitting $20 billion in 2020.  





 





The cybersecurity threat to industrial operations has rapidly evolved and expanded over the last year. This is due to several factors, including a shift to more engineering and maintenance remote activities, more remote operation work on production lines and incomplete digitalisation efforts.





 





"Despite the growing threat and public pressure, organisations remain unprepared. Organisations may be facing a paradox of choice. The cybersecurity industry includes myriad services, many of which are relatively new and sometimes untested. Confounded by choices, many organisations end up unprotected," commented Hossain Alshedoki, IT/OT Cybersecurity ENR Lead, KPMG in Saudi Arabia.





 





Over time, ransomware attacks have become more sophisticated and have changed to achieve their ends by different methods. Additionally, these attacks have increasingly targeted the Industrial Control System (ICS) environments such as oil and gas, and manufacturing.





 





Ransomware attacks on operational technology (OT) networks soared fivefold from 2018 to 2020. Out of these, manufacturing entities