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Report: Email Phishing Threatens Critical Infrastructure, OT Systems

Sept. 17, 2024
80% of organizations hit by email-related breaches in past year, with chemical companies at high risk as IT-OT integration expands attack surface

Email is the primary target of cyber attacks in critical-infrastructure sectors, according to the Opswat report, “Email Security Threats Against Critical Infrastructure Organizations.”

On average, 63% of cybersecurity threats arrived via email, the survey respondents indicated.

Opswat noted that OT networks are particularly vulnerable since they’re becoming increasingly linked to IT systems.

Even so, significantly fewer OT networks are still air-gapped, or isolated, from other networks, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.

Also of concern is the uncertainty regarding current security capabilities.

Nearly half of organizations lack confidence in their existing email security defenses, according to the report. Many companies lack essential cyber safeguards, such as content disarm and reconstruction, URL scanning for malicious signals and anomaly detection within email messages. 

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