Report: Cyber attacks on the rise in critical sectors

KnowBe4, a cyber security firm based out of Clearwater that bills itself as "provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform," recently released a report on the latest state of cyber attacks titled “Cyber Attacks On Infrastructure: The New Geopolitical Weapon.”

The report notes that energy, transportation and telecommunications sectors have become primary targets and that health care, pharmaceutical, education and energy sectors are at high risk for attacks. 

Key findings from the report include:

• The number of vulnerable points in U.S. power grids is growing by approximately 60 per day, with the total count rising from 21,000 in 2022 to between 23,000 and 24,000 today.
• Globally, the average number of weekly cyberattacks against utilities has quadrupled since 2020, with a doubling occurring in 2023 alone.
• Between January 2023 and January 2024, critical infrastructure worldwide sustained over 420 million attacks – equivalent to 13 attacks per second – marking a 30% increase from 2022.

"The findings in our report are a wake-up call for critical infrastructure sectors," says Stu Sjouwerman, CEO at KnowBe4 in a statement. "While the surge in cyberattacks on them is deeply concerning, it's important to remember that we're not powerless in this fight. By fostering a strong security culture that combines technology, processes, and people, we can significantly mitigate these risks."

Sjouwerman knows of what he speaks.  

KnowBe4, according to a July blog post written by Sjouwerman, "inadvertently hired a skillful North Korean IT worker who used the stolen identity of a US citizen. He participated in several rounds of video interviews and circumvented background check processes commonly used." The new hire, according to the blog post, "never had access to any customer data, KnowBe4's private networks, cloud infrastructure, code, or any KnowBe4 confidential information."

Ultimately, Sjouwerman believes it is a group effort between cybersecurity firms and users to ensure protection against attacks. “Every organization, regardless of size or sector, has a role to play in safeguarding our collective infrastructure,” Sjouwerman says in the release. “It's time we view cybersecurity not as just an IT issue, but as a fundamental aspect of our operational resilience and national security."

(The Observer Media Group, publisher of the Business Observer, has used KnowBe4 for cyber security awareness training.)