Cyberattacks on America's critical infrastructure skyrocketing
The number of cybersecurity incidents involving potential attacks on critical infrastructure increased by more than 2,000 percent between 2009 and 2011, according to a new report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team.
The number of cybersecurity incidents involving potential attacks on critical infrastructure increased by more than 2,000 percent between 2009 and 2011, according to a new report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), reports Defense Systems sister publication FCW.
In 2009, ICS-CERT, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, received nine incident reports; that number jumped to 41 in 2010 and 198 in 2011.
In 2009 and 2010, the energy sector was the target of the most incidents, accounting for a third of all reports in 2009 and for 44 percent in 2010. In 2011, water utilities saw 41 percent of the incidents reported to ICS-CERT, and attacks on multiple sectors made up 25 percent.
A large number of incidents involved "sophisticated and targeted spear-phishing campaigns" that opened the door to theft and further network infiltration, according to the report.