Critical systems are coming under attack more often from cyber criminals or state-sponsored hackers, a studiy has found
More than half of the companies running critical infrastructure such as electrical grids, gas and oil supplies have suffered cyber attacks or stealth infiltrations by organised gangs or state-sponsored hackers, according to a new study by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The attacks are part of a "cyber cold war" that is going on silently all over the internet, the study suggests. And a growing number of executives at the companies believe that foreign governments are behind the attacks ? with the worldwide poll finding that the US and China are believe to pose the biggest threat through cyberattacks.
The study, released at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting and commissioned by the computer security company McAfee, puts the cost to the world economy of the attacks at ?1.4bn annually, or ?3.6m per day ? but it is the threat to the stability of essential services that needs to be dealt with urgently.
The report comes after Google revealed that it and more than 30 other western companies in the financial and industrial sector had been targeted by Chinese hackers. The attack, dubbed "Operation Aurora", was alleged to be targeting valuable intellectual property and personal details, having broken into the companies' networks using "highly sophisticated" hacking techniques.
Google implied ? without ever specifying ? that the hackers were acting for the Chinese government. That quickly led to an international row after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged China to investigate the break-ins, and made a speech critical of internet censorship as practised by China. China rebuffed suggestions that it was behind the hacking. McAfee was the first company to identify the flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer that was used to attack Google.
Separately, earlier this week the christian science monitor newspaper revealed that three Texas-based oil companies ? Conoco, ExxonMobil and Marathon ? were alerted by the FBI that their systems were penetrated in 2008 and that "bid data" about oil reserves and potential drilling sites was stolen.
For the McAfee study, the Center of Strategic and International Studies surveyed some 600 IT and security executives from the energy, transport, water and sewage, government, telecoms and financial sectors in 14 countries.
"In most developed countries, critical infrastructure is connected to the internet and can lack proper security functions, leaving these installations vulnerable," McAfee said.
Some 37% of firms believed the threat to critical infrastructure is growing, and two-fifths expect a major cyber security incident within the next year, the survey showed, while one out of five has been a victim of financial extortion.
The recently identified Operation Aurora was the largest and most sophisticated cyberattack targeted at specific corporations, but it could have just as easily targeted the world's critical infrastructure," said Dave DeWalt, McAfee's chief executive. "The attack announced by Google and identified by McAfee was the most sophisticated threat seen in years making it a watershed moment in cybersecurity because of the targeted and coordinated nature of the attack."
Greg Day, McAfee's security analyst, said the biggest surprise in the study was the scale and scope of attacks. "It is happening at such a major scale and we will certainly see more and more sophisticated attacks," he said.
More than half of the companies running critical infrastructure such as electrical grids, gas and oil supplies have suffered cyber attacks or stealth infiltrations by organised gangs or state-sponsored hackers, according to a new study by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The attacks are part of a "cyber cold war" that is going on silently all over the internet, the study suggests. And a growing number of executives at the companies believe that foreign governments are behind the attacks ? with the worldwide poll finding that the US and China are believe to pose the biggest threat through cyberattacks.
The study, released at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting and commissioned by the computer security company McAfee, puts the cost to the world economy of the attacks at ?1.4bn annually, or ?3.6m per day ? but it is the threat to the stability of essential services that needs to be dealt with urgently.
The report comes after Google revealed that it and more than 30 other western companies in the financial and industrial sector had been targeted by Chinese hackers. The attack, dubbed "Operation Aurora", was alleged to be targeting valuable intellectual property and personal details, having broken into the companies' networks using "highly sophisticated" hacking techniques.
Google implied ? without ever specifying ? that the hackers were acting for the Chinese government. That quickly led to an international row after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged China to investigate the break-ins, and made a speech critical of internet censorship as practised by China. China rebuffed suggestions that it was behind the hacking. McAfee was the first company to identify the flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer that was used to attack Google.
Separately, earlier this week the christian science monitor newspaper revealed that three Texas-based oil companies ? Conoco, ExxonMobil and Marathon ? were alerted by the FBI that their systems were penetrated in 2008 and that "bid data" about oil reserves and potential drilling sites was stolen.
For the McAfee study, the Center of Strategic and International Studies surveyed some 600 IT and security executives from the energy, transport, water and sewage, government, telecoms and financial sectors in 14 countries.
"In most developed countries, critical infrastructure is connected to the internet and can lack proper security functions, leaving these installations vulnerable," McAfee said.
Some 37% of firms believed the threat to critical infrastructure is growing, and two-fifths expect a major cyber security incident within the next year, the survey showed, while one out of five has been a victim of financial extortion.
The recently identified Operation Aurora was the largest and most sophisticated cyberattack targeted at specific corporations, but it could have just as easily targeted the world's critical infrastructure," said Dave DeWalt, McAfee's chief executive. "The attack announced by Google and identified by McAfee was the most sophisticated threat seen in years making it a watershed moment in cybersecurity because of the targeted and coordinated nature of the attack."
Greg Day, McAfee's security analyst, said the biggest surprise in the study was the scale and scope of attacks. "It is happening at such a major scale and we will certainly see more and more sophisticated attacks," he said.
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