Cyberattacks on OT, ICS Lay Groundwork for Kinetic Warfare

Organizations need to start taking critical infrastructure threats seriously, as they could be a precursor to future, hybrid cyber-kinetic warfare attacks, experts warn.

INFOSEC23 – London – The concept of cyber warfare isnt new, but attacks on operational technology (OT) and industrial control system (ICS) environments could enable the development of kinetic weapons with physical effects, at least one expert is warning.
Speaking at Infosecurity Europe on The Future of Cyberwarfare, Chris Dobrec, vice president of product marketing for Armis, looked at past examples of attacks that affected OT and ICS environments, such as
Stuxnet
,
Havex
, and
Blackenergy
, as well as the use of Ryuk ransomware on
Colonial Pipeline
. Demonstrated attacks can have kinetic effect and can harm humans, he said.
Pointing at the companys
cyber-warfare research
from last year, Dobrec showed results that found 24% of respondents were not prepared to handle the effect of these kinds of attacks — yet counterintuitively, three-quarters (76%) believe that they have appropriate controls in place. Also, the research found that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 74% of respondents agreed that response to OT attacks needs to be a board-level issue.
Pointing at the
HSE attack
last year, Dobrec predicted that there will be more attacks on healthcare organizations in particular in the future,
as well as on utilities
and transportation.
It is bizarre that OT is now vulnerable and exposed, so widen that aperture in your overall organization and monitor for potential threats, he said. Look for the potential vulnerabilities in these systems that you may have not been looking at previously, and then work to actually continuously monitor and remediate that.
He added, Also engage the entire organization: its not just the IT and security folks, but the operational folks that are involved in keeping those systems up and running.

Last News
▸ ArcSight prepares for future at user conference post HP acquisition. ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Samsung Epic 4G: First To Use Media Hub ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Many third-party software fails security tests ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security

**Cyber Security Categories**
Google Dorks Database	Exploits Vulnerability	Exploit Shellcodes

CVE List

Tools/Apps

News/Aarticles

Phishing Database

Deepfake Detection

Trends/Statistics & Live Infos

Tags:
Cyberattacks on OT, ICS Lay Groundwork for Kinetic Warfare