A study conducted by Kaspersky and VDC Research reveals that cyberattacks seriously affect industrial companies, leading to significant financial losses and costly production shutdowns.
Cyberattacks are emerging as a major economic risk for global industry. According to a joint study by Kaspersky and VDC Research, one in two industrial companies estimates having suffered financial losses exceeding $1 million as a result of cyberattacks targeting their operational infrastructures. Even more alarming: one in five mentions losses exceeding $5 million, and 2% of them saw the bill go over $10 million.
Based on the testimonies of 250 decision-makers from the energy, transport, manufacturing, and utilities sectors, the study entitled Securing OT with Purpose-Built Solutions provides a worrying overview of cybersecurity in industrial environments. It highlights multi-sector impacts, ranging from revenue losses to production stoppages, including stock destruction and repair costs.
The breakdown of expenses linked to a cyber breach shows that incident response accounts on average for 22% of the total, ahead of revenue loss (19.5%), unplanned production stoppages (17%), equipment repairs (17%), ransom payments (12%), and the loss of products in production (12%). These interruptions are far from occasional: 70% of the companies surveyed report operational stoppages lasting between 4 and 24 hours.
“Unplanned downtime represents a major cost for industrial companies. Ignoring cybersecurity risks means weakening the entire production chain,” comments Andrey Strelkov, Head of Industrial Cybersecurity at Kaspersky.
In a context of growing automation and increased connectivity of industrial systems, the study reminds us that cybersecurity is no longer an option, but a condition of economic survival.
