Segmentados Desarrollo

The proliferation of cybersecurity incidents in industrial environments has given rise to a huge concern in the various existing sectors. Some of them, such us the energy sector, are choosing the path taking in the banking sector with the TIBER-EU framework. In addition, many governments are allocating large sums of money to their government agencies to develop strategic plans in which that exercises are included

Confrontations between countries no longer only take place in the physical world, in this new decade, these confrontations also move to the cyber world. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is one of the clearest examples. Among the events that have taken place is the security incident known as Industroyer2, which affected an electrical supplier in Ukraine. The Industroyer2 is the evolution of its predecessor, the malware known as Industroyer, which was able to affect multiple protocols of industrial control systems during its execution. This new variant of the malware focuses on a particular communications protocol, IEC-104, which is widely used in Europe and the Middle East to monitor and control the power system via the TCP/IP communications protocol.

The programming of PLCs is a fundamental part of the initial phases when building and designing industrial plants. About that environment, the company will base all its operations in that environment making the configuration of these controllers a critical element. When it comes to programming these devices there are a series of steps and best practices that take advantage of the native functionalities available and that involve little or no need to resort to a PLC programmer, protecting the device in a simple way with minimum spend on resource.

In the year 2022 and as is reflected in the article “Industrial Security 2022 in numbers”, cyberattacks in all industrial sectors have increased by around 30 % in the third quarter of 2022 and it is estimated that the number of organizations or industrial manufacturers victims of a cyberattack was around 40% in the last year. Especially in the industrial sector, the number of attacks has grown exponentially due to the massive introduction of IoT devices (it is expected to go from 13.5 to 21.5 million connected devices in three years) or more specifically about IIoT devices, which have been the main gateway for attacks as manufacturers have prioritized features and mass-production of devices over the security. In addition, this is compounded by planned obsolescence planned (increasingly present in this type of devices), increased interoperability and connectivity and the appearance of new types of malware and exploits which are much more effective.

Antivirus is one of the main lines of defence when a user downloads a malicious file or an attacker has gained access to the computer and attempts to execute malware. Cybercriminals use various means to avoid an antivirus, using different tools and techniques depending on their type and functionalities. This article details the techniques commonly used, as well as the protective measures we should take to prevent attackers from executing malware on our computers.

The increase in industrial control systems and the shortcomings of those systems in cybersecurity measures have made such systems a preferred target of attacks. The number of tools designed to pose a threat to the OT sector has increased, and the use of the Incontroller tool is especially concerning.

PLCs, or Programmable Logic Controllers, have been part of industrial environments since the birth of automation. Given their evolution over time, thanks to greater intelligence, they have become a target of interest for potential attackers.

Organisations are exposed to the consequences of cyber threats, and may be ill-prepared to face and manage cyber incidents, whether provoked or unprovoked. For this reason, in 2014 INCIBE launched its Indicators for the Improvement of Cyber Resilience (IMC) model, with the aim of improving and understanding the state of cyber resilience in organisations.

Nobelium es la denominación de Microsoft para un grupo de atacantes que, según la atribución llevada a cabo por la Agencia de Seguridad de Infraestructura y Ciberseguridad (CISA) de Estados Unidos, pertenecen al Servicio de Inteligencia Exterior (SRV) de Rusia. Este grupo criminal es conocido por el ataque a la cadena de suministro de SolarWinds, y una campaña masiva de phishing haciéndose pasar por una empresa de desarrollo estadounidense.

Demilitarized zones, also known as DMZs (demilitarized zones), are used for the secure exchange of information between computers on a network that we want to protect and an external network that needs to access those computers. DMZs are widely used in the IT sector and also in the OT sector, but the equipment and services they host are not exactly the same.

Although the use of black channel is associated with physical safety, it is also part of logical safety. Here we can see how the black channel intervenes in communications, its contribution, advantages, use cases and the differences between it and the white channel.

In recent years, the concept of machine learning has gained more prominence, mainly driven by advances in parallel computing capacity. More and more developments, applications and programs are using these algorithms to provide systems with greater security, intelligence and independence. However, it’s rarely used in industrial environments, although some recent tests and developments prove its effectiveness, including in the scope of detection and prediction of cyber attacks.