IBM’s latest report highlights the alarming trend of cyber attacks targeting the manufacturing sector in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. In 2023, the manufacturing industry bore the brunt, comprising 46% of all incidents, followed closely by finance, insurance, and transportation sectors, each at 12%. Education is third with 8%.
The IBM report also noted APAC’s rise as the third most-targeted region globally, accounting for 23% of all incidents in 2023.
“Although ‘AI-engineered attacks’ are receiving more attention due to the rise of generative AI in the current landscape, the biggest security threat in Asia Pacific remains to be known unpatched vulnerabilities,” Catherine Lian, general manager & technology leader, IBM Asean, said in a media release. “Additional focus should also be placed on the region’s critical infrastructure and key industries such as manufacturing, finance and insurance, and transportation, with stress tests and well-prepared incidents response plans in place.”
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IBM X-Force, IBM Consulting’s offensive and defensive security services arm, revealed that phishing remains the predominant initial access vector in the region, comprising 36% of incidents in 2023, closely followed by exploits targeting public-facing applications at 35%.
Malware emerged as the most common threat action, constituting 45% of attacks in the region. Ransomware incidents accounted for 17%, while infostealers followed at 10%.
The impact of these attacks on the region was profound, with brand reputation and data theft each accounting for 27% of cases. Extortion, data destruction, and data leaks followed closely, each representing 20% of incidents.
Generative AI
“The exploitation of user identity is becoming a preferred weapon of choice for global threat actors, raising the need for more effective user access control strategies in the region, and is prompting us to promote a holistic approach to security in the age of generative AI,” Lian said.
Regarding the future landscape, IBM’s X-Force predicts that once generative AI achieves dominance, akin to past technological shifts, it could become a prime target for cybercriminals. With this in mind, IBM advises enterprises to fortify their security measures to safeguard AI models and underlying infrastructure effectively.