Companies in the financial, industrial, manufacturing, health, transportation and logistics sectors, as well as the automotive industry, are being the main target of cyber attacks, offering criminals the possibility of obtaining larger monetary sums compared to attacks carried out on victims of lower economic value, according to specialists from the computer protection developer Fortinet.
“Although it is not clear how many cyber attacks are directed at companies, it is known that in the first half of the year there were 31 billion attack attempts in Mexico, and it is clear the scope of impact that they can cause to organizations. ”said Sebastian Russo, Director of Engineering for Fortinet Mexico.
With successful attacks, criminals steal industrial secrets that they can sell, or steal banking information from organizations’ customers, he explained at a press conference.
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“The organizations are contacted, and they are also threatened that their information may be deleted, or that their secrets may be disseminated,” he said.
Calculations, he shared, indicate that for every $4,000 invested in an attack, criminals can benefit with up to $1 million.
Jorge Miranda, Sr. Country Manager for Fortinet México, added that among the effects of attacks on companies, there is also the brake on production lines, which causes million-dollar losses.
Faced with this scenario, companies must be more prepared than ever, he added.
“To protect themselves, organizations should focus on enabling advanced, actionable AI-powered tools in real-time across all security devices to detect suspicious activity and initiate mitigation techniques,” he said.
The consulting firm Kaspersky announced this Tuesday the main entities in the country to which cyber attacks on industries were directed in 2023: Mexico City occupies first place, with 14.11% of attacks; followed by the State of Mexico, with 11.60%; Nuevo León, with 7.11%; Jalisco, with 7.02%, and Guanajuato, with 5.52%.
