More than half of critical infrastructure providers have suffered what they consider to be a computer attack for political reasons, such as infections by Stuxnet, reveals a study by Symantec.
According to the analysis, carried out in August and published now, of the more than 1,580 companies interviewed – in fifteen countries and six industries – the «generality» claims to have been attacked ten times in the last five years.
The security company also said that 48 percent of respondents expect new attacks during the next year and 80 percent believe their frequency will increase.
The study comes at a time when the topic of cyberwar has been on the agenda due to Stuxnet, the worm which affected around 45 thousand computer systems worldwide and that several experts argue that it was created on purpose to reach critical infrastructures of States, such as energy networks.
According to data from Symantec, the companies interviewed generally estimate «three out of five attacks» were rated between «somewhat» and «extremely» effective, with average costs in the order of $ 850,000 (over five years).
With regard to the means to address these types of threats, only a third of the world’s critical infrastructure providers feel «extremely» prepared to respond to all types of attacks and 31 percent feel «less than little» prepared, «on the scale proposed by the company. Smaller companies are those that present themselves as weaker in terms of security, details the analysis.
