According to a report by global cybersecurity company Fortinet, whose key findings have recently been highlighted by the Bangkok Post, around 88% of Thai organizations associated with operational technology (OT) have experienced cyber-intrusions in the past year.
The “Global 2022 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report” analyzed over 500 global OT professionals, including in Thailand.
Considering Thai firms that reported attacks, the top three intrusions are malware, ransomware, and hackers. Over half suffered an operational outage which led to productivity losses. Close to 90% of the Thai OT entities took up to a few hours to return to service, while the rest recovered only took days or longer to do so. In addition, over 70% of the Thai OT organizations suffered operational outages that put physical safety at risk.
The survey report than less than 20% of the Thai OT organizations have between 1,000- 10,000 IP-enabled devices in operation. Thai entities face challenges using multiple OT security tools, further challenging their cybersecurity.
Other key challenges include programmable logic controllers designed without security, continued intrusions, a lack of centralized visibility across OT activities, and growing connectivity. In addition, industrial systems have become a significant risk factor as they are becoming universally integrated. With industrial systems being connected to the internet, organizations’ attack surface is growing in parallel.
(Source: Bangkok Post)
