"SMEs are now the weak link in the industry in terms of cybersecurity"

ZIUR Industrial Cyber Security Center

Cyber Intelligence Report: Industrial Sector 3Q 2023

Nine months into 2023, everything indicates that in Spain and the Basque Country all records will be broken this year, in terms of cybersecurity incidents. Cybercrime has been proven to be an instrument of political and economic destabilization, and with this, public administration and industrial companies have become its main objectives, especially if it involves critical infrastructure.

Another relevant piece of information that this year is leaving us with is the great inequality that exists in terms of cybersecurity between large industry organizations and industrial SMEs; the latter have become the weak link.

Throughout this report aimed at entities in the industrial sector, you will be able to learn about the latest trends in the sector, such as why SMEs are at greater risk of suffering successful attacks, why ransomware has become the most prevalent cyberattack, and why why DDOS attacks have increased.

INDEX

1. Introduction
2. SMEs, the weak link in the industry in terms of cybersecurity
   • Companies' investment in cybersecurity increases, but it does not do so in a homogeneous manner
   • Increased risk of successful attacks through the supply chain
3. Ransomware and data breaches, main threats to the industry
   • Ransomware As A Service (RAAS): the explanation for the exponential increase in ransomware attacks
   • Most active ransomware groups and predominant attack tactics
   • Information exfiltration and data breaches
   • Most significant data breaches during Q3 2023
   • Infostealers, the most used malware to steal data
4. Increase in DDOS attacks
5. Conclusions and recommendations