Surge in ICS Attacks: Biometrics and Building Automation at Highest Risk in South Asia, ET CISO
'Our research shows that in the region, critical sectors such as biometrics, manufacturing, and energy remain prime targets for cybercriminals, underscoring the urgent need for proactive defense strategies, continuous monitoring, and robust industrial cybersecurity practices,' says Jaydeep Singh, General Manager for India at Kaspersky. 'Notably, nearly one in five ICS systems in India experienced malicious activity. As threat actors grow more persistent and sophisticated, organizations must enhance visibility across both IT and OT environments and invest in tailored security frameworks to safeguard critical operations.'
Advt
Advt
The Kaspersky report reveals that in South Asia, the biometrics sector faced the highest number of ICS (Industrial Control Systems) threats in Q1 2025, with malicious objects blocked on 28.1% of ICS computers, matching the global average. Biometrics, used for secure authentication and identification, continues to be a high-risk target for cybercriminals.Building Automation was the second-most affected sector, with 23.4% of ICS computers fending off threats. This industry, which manages energy efficiency, security, and comfort systems in smart buildings, remains vulnerable due to its reliance on interconnected technologies.The Electric Power sector ranked third, with over 22% of ICS computers exposed to threats. Given its role as part of South Asia's critical infrastructure, this sector's cybersecurity posture is vital to national stability.Interestingly, most industry sectors in the region recorded ICS threat levels below the global average—except manufacturing. In this sector, 18% of ICS computers were targeted, slightly above the global figure of 17.6%.Overall, South Asia saw a marginal rise in ICS attacks, with threats blocked on 21% of systems in Q1 2025, up from 20.7% in the previous quarter. However, not all industries followed this upward trend. The manufacturing sector saw a slight quarter-over-quarter drop, from 18.7% in Q4 2024 to 18% in Q1 2025. Engineering and ICS Integration also declined, falling from 19.9% to 19%.'The results of our research show that revising cybersecurity measures for legacy and time-tested technologies is essential more than ever. Organizations relying on ICS should now view cybersecurity not as a cost, but as an investment in business continuity, an insurance policy that not only protects assets and data, but also maintains the trust that has been worked hard to build with customers and partners,' adds Singh.To enhance ICS security in all digitally integrated sectors, Kaspersky recommends the following measures based on enterprise OT insights.
Conducting regular security assessments of OT systems to identify and eliminate possible cybersecurity issues.
Establishing continuous vulnerability assessment and triage as a foundation for an effective vulnerability management process. Dedicated solutions like Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity may become an efficient assistant and a source of unique actionable information, not fully available in public.
Performing timely updates for the key components of the enterprise's OT network, applying security fixes and patches, or implementing compensating measures as soon as it is technically possible is crucial for preventing a major incident that might cost millions due to the interruption of the production process.
Using EDR solutions such as Kaspersky Next EDR Expert for the timely detection of sophisticated threats, investigation, and effective remediation of incidents.
Improving the response to new and advanced malicious techniques by building and strengthening teams' skills in incident prevention, detection, and response. Dedicated OT security training for IT security staff and OT personnel is one of the key measures helping to achieve this.
By ,
ETCISO
Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox.
All about ETCISO industry right on your smartphone! Download the ETCISO App and get the Realtime updates and Save your favourite articles.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
7 days ago
- Time of India
Kaspersky looks to foray into tier-2 cities for expanding presence in India
By Simran Arora Da Nang: Cyber security firm Kaspersky is mulling to expand business partnerships with dealers and enterprises in India and is also looking to foray into tier two cities under its expansion plans for the country, a top official of the company said on Tuesday. Speaking with the media here, Adrian Hia, Kaspersky's Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said, "Definitely want to look into expanding into the tier two cities... We will continue to expand coverage through partners." Currently, the company has operations in three cities -- Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Kaspersky is actively scaling up its presence in India and has been hiring people, especially in research, global capability centres and threat intelligence roles. Over the past two years, Kaspersky has tripled its local workforce, with new hires across sales, pre-sales, technical support, and customer experience roles in India. It has embedded part of its global research teams in India, where experts monitor over 900 advanced persistent threat groups daily, supporting global threat intelligence operations . The company is expanding research resources and hiring analysts locally, especially for Digital Footprint Intelligence (DFI) work such as brand protection and takedowns. Kaspersky has highlighted plans to continue strengthening R&D capabilities in India, positioning it as a key innovation hub within its global operations. Although specific Global Competence Centres (GCCs) in India haven't been explicitly mentioned, the deployment of global research and analytic teams locally effectively serves that function. In the wake of rapid digitisation, he said that the company is looking at sectors like power and oil and gas.
News18
05-08-2025
- News18
Kaspersky looks to foray into tier 2 cities for expanding presence in India
Da Nang (Vietnam), Aug 5 (PTI) Cyber security firm Kaspersky is mulling to expand business partnerships with dealers and enterprises in India and is also looking to foray into tier two cities under its expansion plans for the country, a top official of the company said on Tuesday. Speaking with the media here, Adrian Hia, Kaspersky's Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said, 'Definitely want to look into expanding into the tier two cities… We will continue to expand coverage through partners." Currently, the company has operations in three cities — Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Kaspersky is actively scaling up its presence in India and has been hiring people, especially in research, global capability centres and threat intelligence roles. Over the past two years, Kaspersky has tripled its local workforce, with new hires across sales, pre-sales, technical support, and customer experience roles in India. It has embedded part of its global research teams in India, where experts monitor over 900 advanced persistent threat groups daily, supporting global threat intelligence operations. The company is expanding research resources and hiring analysts locally, especially for Digital Footprint Intelligence (DFI) work such as brand protection and takedowns. Kaspersky has highlighted plans to continue strengthening R&D capabilities in India, positioning it as a key innovation hub within its global operations. Although specific Global Competence Centres (GCCs) in India haven't been explicitly mentioned, the deployment of global research and analytic teams locally effectively serves that function. In the wake of rapid digitisation, he said that the company is looking at sectors like power and oil and gas. PTI SID MR (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
05-08-2025
- Business Standard
Over 84,000 Indian gaming accounts leaked in 2024, says Kaspersky
Over 84,000 online gaming account user details were leaked in India in 2024, the global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky on Tuesday said. Press Trust of India Vietnam Over 84,000 online gaming account user details were leaked in India in 2024, the global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky on Tuesday said. The maximum number of leaks of gaming account user details was witnessed in Thailand, the minimum such instances were in Singapore in the Asia-Pacific (APAC)Region, it said. The APAC region has emerged as the global epicentre of gaming, with more than half of the world's gamers based here. Markets such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the rapidly growing economies of Southeast Asia contribute significantly to this dominance. According to Kaspersky, Thailand recorded 1,62,892 leaked cases, followed by the Philippines with 99,273, Vietnam 87,969, India 84,262, Indonesia 69,909, Malaysia 37,718, South Korea 37,097, China 18,786, Sri Lanka 10,877, and Singapore 4,262 leaked cases, the company said. The company further said that 11 million gaming account credentials were leaked last year. The region's rapid digital adoption, widespread mobile penetration, and youth-driven demand have fueled exponential growth across both casual and competitive gaming segments, it added. With nearly 1.8 billion players and growing, the gaming ecosystem in APAC is not only the largest by volume but also among the most influential in shaping global gaming trends and behaviours, the company said. "Thus, it does not come as a surprise that the region is fast-becoming a breeding ground for data-stealing cyber threats, the company said. Addressing an event here, Adrian Hia, the company's Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said that virus threats have gone up significantly over the last two decades from one new virus threat every hour to 4,67, 000 new virus threats every day in the year 2004. The company's global non-audited revenue was at USD 822 million in 2024. Kaspersky registered 11 per cent sales growth last year. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
