By NordVPN | Teams
The construction industry may not appear to be an obvious target for cybercrime, but it garners unwanted online attention just like other sectors. According to the Cost of Data Breach Report 2020 by IBM, the average cost of a data breach in the industrial sector was $4.99M.
GlobalData, a data research company, predicts that the industrial sector’s value will soar to $12.9T by 2022. After rising consistently by 3.6 percent since 2018, it has now caught the eye of cybercriminals. Over half of all construction executives believe their firms will be hit in the future, yet worryingly, 68 percent of firms have no security measures in place.
The industry’s vulnerabilities were exposed on both digital and operational levels recently, as cybercriminals attempted to compromise water treatment plant networks and poison the water supply in Florida. Most devices had a basic network connection, meaning heavy machinery could’ve been commandeered, leading to disastrous consequences.
