ZIUR supports industrial companies to adjust their cybersecurity defenses in the face of the wave of attacks

ZIUR supports industrial companies to “adjust their cybersecurity defenses” in the face of “the wave” of attacks

• Nearly 6,990 Gipuzkoan organizations suffered an incident in 2023
• On the occasion of World Internet Day, ZIUR remembers that attacks on companies have two main entry routes: the exploitation of vulnerabilities and the user.

Around 6,990 Gipuzkoan companies suffered some type of incident related to cybersecurity during 2023, data that will continue to increase. Therefore, on the occasion of World Internet Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow, ZIUR, the Industrial Cybersecurity Center of Gipuzkoa belonging to the Provincial Council, wants to raise awareness among companies in the territory of the importance of cybersecurity, offering them their help to improve their maturity in this area. “We want to support them to adapt their defenses for the wave that is upon us and that will continue to grow,” indicates the general director of ZIUR, María Penilla.

In the State as a whole, cyber incidents increased by 24% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to data published by INCIBE, the National Cybersecurity Institute. These events affected a total of 22,000 companies in the national territory, causing a total of 83,517 cyber security incidents.

As Penilla explains, these attacks have “two main routes of entry into our companies.” On the one hand, the exploitation of vulnerabilities, since a total of 183,077 vulnerable systems were registered in the State in 2023. “This is a key point to work on for our companies: try to reduce these vulnerabilities to a minimum and manage them appropriately, because we know that cybercriminals are continually monitoring them to take advantage of them to their advantage and achieve that first commitment in companies,” insists the director general of ZIUR.

The second vector of entry for cybercriminals are users and, therefore, ZIUR recommends the implementation of internal cybersecurity training plans to help successfully confront these threats, which also affect people at a personal level.

High level of awareness

Despite the threats, Gipuzkoa and its industrial companies show a high level of awareness in the field of cybersecurity. “We must be optimistic because our organizations are dealing with these situations and are investing in improving their processes and cybersecurity,” says Penilla. In fact, almost 60% of public aid for cybersecurity in 2023 was requested by industrial companies to undertake projects to adopt good practices and to carry out certification processes.

Furthermore, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, specifically, the Department of Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects, has just launched an aid program to promote cybersecurity in companies in the territory that has a budget of more than 360,000 euros and includes two lines : cybersecurity in organizations and the industrial cybersecurity product.

AI and complex attacks

This year, World Internet Day will focus on Artificial Intelligence, a field that ZIUR has been analyzing for some time to understand both the benefits and the risks that it can pose for companies in Gipuzkoa, since AI attacks are becoming “more and more complex, sophisticated and effective.”

Thus, the center published a report on its use in security tools in an OT environment, in which it recommended that organizations in the sector have the most up-to-date mechanisms to protect their systems to avoid suffering a cyber attack that forces them to stop any critical process that directly affects the supply chain or even, in the worst case scenario, causes the production process to stop temporarily.