Industrial organizations that own operational technology (OT) assets were targeted by three new advanced threat groups last year. In total, industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos tracked 10 OT-focused threat groups that had active operations in 2023, but attacks from hacktivists and ransomware gangs that can also cause disruption to industrial activities have also increased.
“Motivated by mounting geopolitical tensions, sophisticated threat groups and hacktivists demonstrated the capacity to breach the networks of critical infrastructure and, in some cases, disrupt OT systems,” Dragos said in its annual OT cybersecurity report. “With each passing year, the number of ransomware incidents globally climbs even higher, leading to cascading impacts for virtually every industrial sector, particularly manufacturing.”
