According to the ICS threat landscape report by Kaspersky, in the first half of 2022 in the African regions computers in the industrial control systems (ICS) environment were attacked using multiple means – malicious objects, phishing pages, and spyware.
ICS computers are used in oil & gas, energy, automotive manufacturing, building automation infrastructures and other spheres to perform a range of OT functions – from the workstations of engineers and operators to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) servers and Human Machine Interface (HMI).
Cyberattacks on industrial computers are considered to be extremely dangerous as they may cause material losses and production downtime for the controlled production line and even the facility as a whole. Moreover, industrial enterprises put out of service can seriously undermine a region’s social welfare, ecology and macroeconomics.
In the first half of 2022 in the META region, ICS computers in the oil and gas sector faced attacks most often (47 per cent of them got attacked). Attacks on building automation systems were in second place – 45 per cent of ICS computers in this sector were targeted. The energy sector was also among the top 3 environments that got attacked (41 per cent of computers there were affected).
In total, over the last six months, various types of malicious objects were blocked on every third ICS computer in South Africa (33 per cent, 11 per cent increase from the second half of 2021), and on 36 per cent of computers in Kenya (20 per cent increase from the second half of 2021). In Senegal, there were 41 per cent of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked, in Nigeria – 34 per cent, in Gabon – 38 per cent.
Percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked
Kenya 36%
Gabon 38%
Nigeria 34%
Senegal 41%
South Africa 33%
Malicious scripts and phishing pages were among the most popular means of attacking ICS computers in the African regions. In H1 2022 such scripts and pages were blocked on 19 per cent of ICS computers in South Africa, a 12 per cent increase from H2 2021. In Senegal, Nigeria and Gabon, 13 per cent of ICS computers were affected, and in Kenya – 17 per cent.
Percentage of ICS computers with blocked malicious scripts and phishing pages
Kenya 17%
Gabon 13%
Nigeria 13%
Senegal 13%
South Africa 19%
Approximately every tenth ICS computer in the African regions in H1 2022 had spyware on it blocked. Specifically, spyware was blocked on 9 per cent of ICS computers in South Africa and Gabon, 12 per cent in Kenya, 11 per cent in Senegal, and 8 per cent in Nigeria.
Percentage of ICS computers with blocked spyware
Kenya 12%
Gabon 9%
Nigeria 8%
Senegal 11%
South Africa 9%
“Sophisticated attacks have increased the demand for better visibility of the cyber-risks that impact industrial control systems. The integration of IT and OT systems has highlighted the need for a comprehensive yet purposely built cybersecurity program. Digital transformation programs require a new approach to ensure the secure deployment and operation of a variety of new, potentially unsafe devices within plant boundaries. Given this new reality, the Industrial Cybersecurity Maturity Modeling approach might be used to define clear industrial cybersecurity targets and to measure how these targets are met,” says Emad Haffar, Head of Technical Experts at Kaspersky.
